Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has introduced legislation that would block colleges and universities from using state aid to fund groups that, according to his office’s release, “have passed resolutions or taken official actions to promote discriminatory boycotts.” (Question: Is there such a thing as a non-discriminatory boycott?)

The bill comes in response to the American Studies Association’s controversial decision to boycott Israel and its academic institutions, a largely symbolic action that supporters of that nation fear could become a camel’s nose under the tent for broader boycotts or divestments prompted by Israel’s policies in the occupied territories and its more general treatment of Palestinians.

Silver’s bill stops short of the approach favored by Senate IDC leader Jeff Klein and Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who would deny state aid to the colleges or universities that choose to support such organizations. Silver’s bill would block funding to those groups more directly. (Silver’s bill would resort to cutting off the larger institution only if it violates the ban on funding the offending groups.)

SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher is a critic of the ASA’s boycott, though she noted that “individuals at SUNY may embrace the boycott or attempt to find other solutions, and that is their choice.”

From Silver’s release: