John Cheney-Lippold, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan(Photo: University of Michigan)

The University of Michigan is dissociating itself from the decision of a faculty member to refuse to write a letter of recommendation for a student wishing to study in Israel.

John Cheney-Lippold, UM Associate Professor who teaches and writes on the relationship between digital media, identity and the concept of privacy, had planned to write to the student a letter of recommendation to study abroad. Israel. He cited a boycott for Palestinians for his decision.

A copy of an email that he wrote to the student to explain his decision was widely shared by UM parents on Facebook.

"I'm really sorry, but I only scanned your first email in a few weeks and I missed a key detail," Cheney-Lippold wrote to the student. "As you may know, many university departments have promised an academic boycott against Israel for Palestinians living in Palestine, including writing letters of recommendation for students planning to study there.

"I should have told you earlier, and for that I apologize," the professor wrote. "But for political reasons, I have to cancel my offer to write your letter."

Cheney-Lippold could not be contacted immediately by email, via social networks and his office phone.

But in an interview with the Michigan Daily, the UM student newspaper, the associate professor stated that he felt compelled to take a stand personally.

"I have no ill will against the student, and I would have liked to write a letter for any other graduate program or study abroad," he said. he declared at the campus publication. "The idea is that I am only one person and by refusing to write this letter or at least I am repealing it, I have tried to stay conscious (sic) and to believe that the boycott is a good tactic to strengthen human rights and bring everyone in Israel court and the UN in general have asked, what is the equal rights for all the world ".

In a statement, UM's public affairs office contradicted Cheney-Lippold's statement that university departments were backing the boycott.

"The University of Michigan is still opposed to any boycott of Israeli institutions of higher learning," the statement said Monday night. "This position was made public by the university leadership, including this statement from the president and the provost in 2013 and this statement from the university's board of directors in 2017.

"No university department or other unit at the University of Michigan has taken a position away from this long-standing university position."

At an event Tuesday near the UM campus, President Mark Schlissel declined to comment, saying that he stands next to the university statement.

Last December, six of the eight members of UM's board of directors signed a resolution rejecting calls by student leaders to consider separating from corporations that allegedly committed human rights violations against Palestinians.

The Cheney-Lippold action sparked controversy as members of the UM Jewish community prepared to commemorate Yom Kippur, a holy day of prayer, fasting and atonement, beginning at sunset on Tuesday.

Michigan Hillel, which supports nearly 60 independent student groups for 6,700 Jewish students on campus of approximately 43,000 UM students, issued a statement criticizing Cheney's action. -Lippold.

"The decision of this professor is contrary to the academic values ​​of our university," said Tillie Shames, executive director of UM Hillel, in a statement released Monday. "A professor's political opinions should not influence students' access to education, including in Israel."

It has also attracted the attention of Allied students for freedom and equality, a Palestinian solidarity organization in UM.

In a statement, the group said that it was in solidarity with the students,
Teachers and staff are boycotting Israeli universities, citing what he calls Israel's human rights violations against Palestinians, "daily demolitions to imprison thousands of innocent civilians to illegally building settlements on Palestinian land ".

"The actions of Cheney-Lippold are the same as those demanded by Palestinian civil society and serve to recognize and resist forces that commit human rights violations," the group said in the statement. "To punish Professor Cheney-Lippold for his actions would limit his own academic agency.We also want to emphasize the double standard of" consequences "faced by students who support the State of Israel. the disadvantages that she might face a letter of recommendation will undoubtedly be able to visit, study and work in the country.

"We remind the campus community that Palestinian students and their allies continue to be blacklisted, targeted and exiled from their country of origin for their identity," the group statement said. "Palestinian students do not have the privilege of returning to Palestine, let alone studying abroad, Where are the concerns about their educational opportunities?"

SAFE also questioned the "speed and strength" with which the UM administration is distanced from Cheney-Lippold's decision.

"It seems that the administration and the community are more interested in punishing a professor for exercising his or her right to express political opinions – opinions that may offend a powerful community on campus – than to protect physical security. and emotional Palestinian students ". I said.

Darren Bogart, a UM sophomore, who is Jewish, said it was a complicated situation and he had mixed feelings. But he did not support the professor's decision.

"The students are here to succeed," said Bogart. "If this particular student wanted to go to Israel and felt comfortable asking this teacher and he initially said yes and then went away … it's kind of a zone gray to hinder their work and what the university hired him to do. "

But Bogart said he acknowledged that Cheney-Lippold was supporting a cause he believed.

"And it's more of a personal thing not backed by the university," Bogart said.

[email protected]

Read or share this story: https://detne.ws/2Nm7z5G