UM Disciplines Prof over Israel Letter Controversy

USCPR Director of Organizing and Advocacy Anna Baltzer is quoted in The Detroit News, in their article about the disciplining of Associate Professor John Cheney-Lippold by the University of Michigan over his support of the academic boycott of Israel.

[It] would be shameful for the University of Michigan to punish Professor John Cheney-Lippold for his brave and principled decision to support Palestinian human rights.

Participating in boycotts to advance progressive causes has a long and time-honored history in the United States and around the globe, where people have acted on their conscience and boycotted to express their support for the American Civil Rights Movement, the South African movement to end apartheid, and more recently to express opposition to the hateful politics of the Trump administration.

It has been heartening to see a growing number of people around the world similarly heed the Palestinian call to boycott as a way to end Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, including its ongoing destruction of Palestinian homes, theft of Palestinian land, and decades of brutal military rule. If the University of Michigan punishes Professor Cheney-Lippold for heeding this call to justice, it will be standing on the wrong side of history.