I support President McRobbie

IU President Michael McRobbie withdrew membership from the American Studies Association after it issued a boycott against Israeli institutions of higher education.
In a statement regarding his decision, McRobbie said, “Boycotts such as these have a profound chilling effect on academic freedom, and universities must be clear and unequivocal in rejecting them.”

McRobbie joined more than 200 universities in condemning the ASA boycott, including Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell and more than half of the Big Ten Conference.

His decision was received with widespread support, but also some skepticism.
Some people are unsure if withdrawing from the ASA is in the best interests of IU and its academic integrity.

It is true that the ASA has upheld the highest precepts of the interdisciplinary study of American culture and history since its establishment in 1951, but McRobbie acutely recognizes this boycott as a sharp turn from those values.

The United States is a global leader in international trade, teamwork and collaboration, and has pioneered collective advances in science, medicine and technology around the world.

Israel has offered invaluable research and development to America since becoming a nation-state and a democracy in 1948, before the ASA existed. And many of the most profound breakthroughs that provide our standard of living were first developed in Israel, including Netafim’s drip irrigation agriculture, Intel’s Core 2 Duo chip microprocessor and Given Imaging’s Pillcam Capsule medical camera.

The educational tie between the U.S. and Israel has been and will continue to be a critical tool to IU and institutions of higher education all over America.

— Joshua Brown