Academic freedom for whom?

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I am one of 200 permanent employees at the University of Oslo who have signed a call for an academic boycott of Israel given the country’s serious violations of international law. The appeal concerns institutional boycotts and does not include individuals.

Kristin Clemet, head of Civita, says in her article in Aftenposten (March 17) that universities that adopt a boycott risk being perceived as having double standards by cooperating with other countries with worse governance than Israel, such as Iran and China. These are countries where researcher collaboration will in many cases be important, precisely because academic freedom is under strong pressure. Which is not the case for Israeli academics.

Clemet believes that the justification for the boycott is contrary to academic norms for free research. It is worth noting that Clemet does not mention the situation of Palestinian academics.

Israel has systematically bombed schools in Gaza, and all higher education institutions have been destroyed. Depriving an entire generation of the right to education is depriving an entire generation of a future.

Lena M. Tallaksen

Professor, University of Oslo