January 2010
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) unanimously voted
against an academic boycott of Israel at a meeting on Thursday.
Had the proposal passed, NTNU would have been the first Western university to
sever ties with Israeli universities.
"As an academic institution, NTNU’s mission is to stimulate the study of the
causes of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and how it can be
resolved. This means that the university is also dependent on being able to
cooperate with Israeli academics and hear their views on the conflict," the 12
board members said in a statement released by the university.
The meeting was attended by almost 50 members of the university community, a
rare departure from the usual five attendees of board of governors meetings. The
journalists, mostly from Norwegian publications, outnumbered the board members.
Each voting member made a statement explaining their position during a
discussion prior to the vote. While many statements were critical of Israel,
they concluded that an academic boycott would not be appropriate.
The discussion took less than half an hour, since no one argued in favor of the
proposal.
"It’s always nice to have unanimous votes on a controversial issue, because you
don’t have a division in the board," said Trond Singsaas, the head of
administration at NTNU.
"I was surprised that no one defended it," said Agnes Bolsø, an associate
professor of cultural studies and one of the original 34 authors of the boycott
proposal. "I thought there would be one or two teachers defending it. They were
very critical of the occupation, but the thing was there was so much weight on
academic freedom, the institution didn’t do anything to prevent that.
"I find it a bit sad. We all want academic freedom, but there is limited
academic freedom for Palestinian academics and for Israelis who are critical of
the occupation," Bolsø added. "They were only talking about our freedom, to have
no restrictions on my freedom, but the other part’s freedom wasn’t mentioned…
It was a bit narrow of perspective."
The boycott proposal was met with denunciation by organizations in Israel,
Europe and North America who mobilized against it. International reaction was
much more intense than the university had anticipated, Singsaas said.
Professor Yossi Ben-Artzi, the rector of the University of Haifa who led the
fight by Israeli academics to protest the proposal, welcomed the news from NTNU.
"I am glad that justice has won over and welcome the decision that recognizes
academic freedom and emphasizes the universal fundamentals of justice and
integrity," he said in a statement.
The Jerusalem Post, November 12, 2009.
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