The Ann Arbor News file photo

ANN ARBOR, MI - The University of Michigan's decision to discipline a professor who rescinded a letter of recommendation for a student who had hoped to study in Israel continues to receive both support and opposition from the academic community.

The American Political Science Association (APSA) urged UM to rescind sanctions placed on professor John Cheney-Lippold last week.

And the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), urged the university to "act with restraint" as it examines faculty members' responsibilities to students.

Cheney-Lippold, an associate professor of American Culture at UM, is no longer eligible for a merit pay increase for the 2018-19 academic year.

The university has also frozen his sabbatical eligibility for two years, until the fall of 2020. Cheney had scheduled a sabbatical for the winter 2019 and will now have to wait until fall of 2020 to take it.

The AAUP's letter to UM President Mark Schlissel urged the university to rescind the sanctions against Cheney-Lippold, noting that it did not follow the AAUP's Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure.

The regulations require that charges that may lead to the imposition of severe sanctions should be preceded by an informal inquiry conducted by a duly constituted faculty committee charged with determining whether proceedings for imposing sanctions should be undertaken.

"Following such a determination, AAUP-supported standards require an administration to demonstrate adequate cause for imposing a severe sanction in a hearing of record before an elected faculty body," the statement reads.

"It does not appear that the procedures followed by (UM College of Literature, Science & Arts Interim) Dean (Elizabeth) Cole prior to imposing the sanctions on Professor Cheney-Lippold were consistent with these Association-supported standards. We are additionally concerned that Dean Cole's letter appears to misrepresent AAUP-supported standards of academic freedom."

An Oct. 3 letter from Cole to Cheney-Lippold said his behavior "was inappropriate and will not be tolerated." The letter also mentions that "further conduct of this nature is subject to additional discipline, up to and including initiation of dismissal proceedings."

"In the future, a student's merit should be your primary guide for determining how and whether to provide a letter of recommendation. You are not to use student requests for recommendations as a platform to discuss your personal political beliefs," Cole wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Ann Arbor News through the Freedom of Information Act.

The APSA, on the other hand, "strongly encouraged" UM to act with restraint as it initiates an effort to clarify its policies surrounding the topic of personal beliefs, the responsibilities of educators and anti-Semitism.

Schlissel called upon UM Provost Martin Philbert to create a panel of distinguished faculty members to examine the intersection between political thought/ideology and faculty members' responsibilities to students.

"... We support the university's efforts to provide more fully developed guidelines," the APSA's statement reads. "However, the university's strong statements and actions in the preceding weeks regarding a separate faculty member's similar decision raises serious concerns. Statements prior to this Fall did not specify that instructors would be sanctioned for supporting the BDS movement, or that sanctions could be exercised for declining to write letters of recommendation. Although the university certainly may expect that instructors will make reasonable efforts to aid students, strong sanctions without clear prior notice raise questions of procedural fairness."

UM Spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said Wednesday, Oct. 17 that the university had no further response regarding its decision to discipline Cheney-Lippold.

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University of Michigan alum Mozhgan Savabieasfahani holds up a sign in support of divestment during a University of Michigan Student Government meeting to vote on a resolution to divest in businesses connected to Israel on Tuesday, November 14, 2017. Hunter Dyke | The Ann Arbor News ANN ARBOR NEWS

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Gaining attention

After previously agreeing to write a student a letter of recommendation to study at Tel Aviv University, Cheney-Lippold told the student in an email in September that he was taking part in an academic boycott against Israel, and could no longer provide the recommendation.

Cheney-Lippold said that after looking over the student's request, he needed to rescind his initial support, noting that "many university departments have pledged an academic boycott against Israel in support of Palestinians living in Palestine."

Cheney-Lippold told the student he would be available to write any other letters for the student in the email. He also later clarified in an email to The Ann Arbor News that he should have said "many university professors have pledged an academic boycott against Israel," rather than university departments.

Since Cheney-Lippold's decision to rescind the letter of recommendation, the

that a graduate student instructor declined to recommend a second student who was applying to a study-abroad program in Israel. The teaching assistant said her decision wasn't personal, but was born of a pledge to "boycott Israeli institutions as a way of showing solidarity with Palestine."

The Post reported that UM student Jake Secker had requested a letter of recommendation from graduate student instructor Lucy Peterson in hopes of studying abroad at Tel Aviv University this winter.

Another UM professor, Juan Cole, wrote an editorial in support of Cheney-Lippold in the wake of the punishment he received. Cole noted he also would not write a letter of recommendation for a student to "work at an Israeli firm located in the West Bank."

"I understand the desire to uphold students' right of conscience and to treat them fairly," said Cole, a history professor at UM. "But I think this decision by my College was wrong-headed in going too far toward disregarding faculty rights of conscience and I would be surprised (and depressed) if it stands in the medium term."

David Palumbo-Liu, a professor at Stanford University, also weighed in with his support for Cheney-Lippold in a guest editorial for the Washington Post.

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Jacob Hamilton

Andrea Fischer Newman, Republican candidate for the UM Board of Regents, speaks during a forum in the Great Lakes Room of Palmer Commons, 100 Washtenaw Avenue in Ann Arbor on Oct. 15, 2018.

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Regents weigh in

During a UM Board of Regents candidate forum Monday, regents Andrea Fischer Newman and Andrew Richner addressed the university's decision to punish Cheney-Lippold, bringing the argument of academic freedom to the forefront.

Fischer Newman said the disciplinary process was handled by university administrators properly.

"This faculty member was looked at because he interfered in the education of a student based on his own personal, political beliefs," Fischer Newman said, explaining the university's decision to discipline Cheney-Lippold.

"I think I can speak for the board that there was no disagreement from the board and we thought it was an appropriate action," she added.

Richner said he and the board recognize the importance of academic freedom, intellectual diversity and freedom of thought on the UM campus, but that there are limitations when it comes to respecting the rights of students to get an education.

"When the interest of the faculty and academic freedom overlaps with the interests of the student getting an education, we have an issue," Richner said. "Our obligation is to provide economic opportunity. It's a balance. The First Amendment does provide all of us with the right to free speech, but there are limitations."

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Ann Arbor resident Blaine Coleman holds up a sign in support of divestment during a University of Michigan Student Government meeting to vote on a resolution to divest in businesses connected to Israel on Tuesday, November 14, 2017. Hunter Dyke | The Ann Arbor News

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Support and opposition for UM's decision

UM also has received messages of support from the university community and beyond.

Michigan Hillel, which had also been critical of Cheney-Lippold's decision to rescind the letter of recommendation, thanked Schlissel and UM for disciplining the professor for his actions.

"We are grateful that the University is taking important steps to foster a positive learning environment for all its students." the statement reads. "We also hope that the University's response will deter other professors from attempting to limit any student's academic opportunities in the future. Finally, we deeply appreciate the University's concern and recognition of our community."

The AMCHA

a group that says it documents anti-Semitic activity on college campuses, also commended the university for its decision to punish Cheney-Lippold.

"We are pleased that UM has recognized the serious harm that an academic boycott's implementation causes its own students," the statement reads. "UM has shown leadership in curbing this discriminatory behavior and stood up for all of its students' civil and academic rights with this precedent. We fully commend UM for the steps taken thus far to discipline Cheney-Lippold, and for establishing a panel that we hope will lead to a clear and comprehensive policy on professors who attempt to use their professional positions to push a personal, political agenda."

A group of more than 300 UM alums, however, were against the university's decision to discipline Cheney-Lippold, calling on UM to "reverse its longstanding position on this issue and instead join us in boycotting and divesting from Israel."

"We write to condemn the disciplinary actions the University plans to take, and to express our opposition to the University of Michigan's longstanding position on this issue, a position that puts it at odds with international law, the constitutionally protected right to boycott, and its own non-discrimination policy," the statement in the petition reads.