THE NEWS-GAZETTE
by Jim Dey
October 26, 2014
University of Illinois Professor Cary Nelson doesn’t shy away from a fight. Some suggest he looks for them. If so, there he goes again. The 68-year-old professor emeritus, whose specialty is modern American poetry, has a new book that takes on the anti-Israel Boycott/Divest/Sanction movement.
“The book is a scholarly weapon on behalf of a cause,” Nelson said of “The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel.” The collection of 30 articles by a variety of academics, including Nelson, attacks premises underlying the growing BDS movement, which characterizes itself as allowing “people of conscience to play an effective role in the Palestinian struggle for justice.” It’s a hot topic on some campuses.
Indeed, the BDS movement and animosity toward Israel lie at the root of the controversy over Chancellor Phyllis Wise’s decision to withdraw a job offer to former Virginia Tech English Professor Steven Salaita. Salaita, a Palestinian-American and a leading BDS advocate, was scheduled to join the American Indian Studies faculty this fall. But Wise withdrew the job offer after controversy over Salaita’s angry and obscenity-laden Tweets regarding Israeli. Wise said Salaita’s conduct was inconsistent with her expectations of a prospective faculty member. But critics charged that she acted under pressure from Jewish groups, particularly wealthy donors……
ArchitectGuy on Israel 