August 21, 2007
March 27, 2007
ICC LAUNCHES NEW NATIONAL DIALOGUE –
ACADEMIC RIGHTS, ACADEMIC RESPONSIBILITIES:
A NEW APPROACH
ICC Convenes Symposium on Academic Rights and
Responsibilities, Drawing Key Professors, Scholars and
Jewish Community Leaders to Washington
Washington, DC: The Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) – a coalition of 31 national Jewish organizations dedicated to promoting Israel education and advocacy on campus – today marked the launch of a new publication, Academic Rights, Academic Responsibilities: A New Approach. This monograph is intended to spur a renewed national discussion surrounding academic freedom and the responsibilities required of all university stakeholders – students, faculty members and administrators – to uphold those freedoms.
The monograph was released today at a luncheon symposium analyzing academic rights and responsibilities, featuring a keynote address by David M. Schizer, the Dean and Lucy G. Moses Professor at Columbia Law School. The keynote address was followed by a panel discussion including legal expert and New York Times columnist Dr. Stanley Fish, of Florida International University College of Law; Dr. Haig Mardirosian, Dean of Academic Affairs at American University; and Dr. Leonard Saxe, Professor of Jewish Community Research and Social Policy at Brandeis University, where he directs the Steinhardt Institute for Social Research and the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies.
The publication appeals to departments and administrations to stop the infusion of political and anti-Israel bias into curricular materials, with the goal of encouraging serious dialogue about how best to create a campus climate that enables open, civil and objective study of complex and charged topics.
“Those who care about the future of Israel need to care about the conversation taking place on college campuses,” Dean Schizer noted during his remarks. “The future of the US-Israel relationship depends on future US leaders, and those future leaders are on college campuses today,” Schizer added.
“I am surprised it took so long for these questions to be raised in one succinct document,” Dean Mardirosian said of the publication. “If we have academic communities that are willing to engage in challenging questions, the best thing we can contribute to these communities is dialogue about academic rights and responsibilities.”
“I applaud the ICC for starting an important debate and discussion about the balance between academic rights and academic responsibilities,” Dr. Saxe added.
For more information about Academic Rights, Academic Responsibilities: A New Approach – and to obtain a copy – please contact David Harris (202-449-6536, dharris@israelcc.org) or Erielle Reshef (202-449-6584, ereshef@israelcc.org).
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The Israel on Campus Coalition is a partnership of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and Hillel:
The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, in cooperation with a network of nearly 31 national organizations committed
to promoting Israel education and advocacy on university campuses across North America.