April 28, 2012



[The following letter to the editor was submitted on 28 April, 2012 to the New York Times in response to an advertisement paid for by the David Horowtiz Freedom Center that appeared in the Op Ed section of the 24 April, 2012 edition of the NYT. It was also reproduced here. The advertisement is posted below, after the list of signatories to the letter.] To the Editor: We are professors who teach in universities across this country. We are appalled at the advertisement by the David Horowitz Freedom Center (Op-Ed page, April 24, 2012) which compares the international movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel (BDS) to the Holocaust and ancient blood libels. It also asks that professors who support it be "publicly shamed and condemned." It grossly distorts the statements of such professors, which are publicly available online and can be verified. The Horowitz Center�s advertisement seeks to shut down informed debate. Free speech and thought was a crucial right at stake in 1930s Germany and it remains so today. The discussion that took place at the University of Pennsylvania did not use any objectionable language, and included many Jewish participants, including rabbis. Your readers can hear for themselves what was said at www.PennBDS.org. It is Horowitz who uses the language of hatred and bigotry. Even those of us who do not support BDS are alarmed at your carrying an advertisement that misinforms and names individuals who do not have the money that Horowtiz has to defend themselves through his chosen medium. We hope you will publish this letter to make this point. 1. Ania Loomba, University of Pennsylvania

2. Ajay Skaria, University of Minnesota

3. Amy Lang, Syracuse University

4. Andreas Huyssen, Columbia University

5. Anjali Arondekar, University of California, Santa Cruz

6. Ann Pellegrini, NYU

7. Antonio Feros , University of Pennsylvania

8. Boris Gasparov, Columbia University

9. Brian Boyd, Columbia University

10. Bruce Robbins, Columbia University

11. Cesare Cesarino, University of Minnesota

12. Charles Bernstein, University of Pennsylvania

13. Crystal Bartolovich, Syracuse University

14. Daniel Richter, University of Pennsylvania

15. David Delgado Shorter, UCLA

16. David Eng, University of Pennsylvania

17. David Kazanjian University of Pennsylvania

18. David Lloyd, University of Southern California

19. David Pellow, University of Minnesota

20. David Shorter, UCLA

21. Elizabeth Bernstein, Columbia University

22. Ellen Kennedy, University of Pennsylvania

23. Farah Godrej, University of California, Riverside

24. Gary Fields, University of California, San Diego

25. Gillian Hart, University of California, Berkeley

26. Heather Love, University of Pennsylvania

27. Homay King, Bryn Mawr College

28. Howard Winant, University of California, Santa Barbara

29. Indrani Chatterjee, Rutgers University

30. James English, University of Pennsylvania

31. James Schamus, Columbia University

32. Jasbir Puar, Rutgers University

33. Jean Howard, Columbia University

34. Jean Lave, University of California, Berkeley

35. Jennifer Wenzel, University of Michigan

36. Jigna Desai, University of Minnesota

37. Jim Holstun, SUNY, Buffalo

38. Joel Beinin, Stanford University

39. Joel Wainwright, Ohio State University

40. John Mowitt, University of Minnesota

41. Joseph Slaughter, Cornell University

42. Josephine Park, University of Pennsylvania

43. Josie Salda�a, NYU

44. Judith Frank, Amherst College

45. Judith Surkis, Columbia University and the Institute for Advanced Study

46. Kaja Silverman, University of Pennsylvania

47. Katherine Franke, Columbia Law School

48. Kathleen A. McHugh, UCLA

49. Kathy Peiss, University of Pennsylvania

50. Keya Ganguly University of Minnesota

51. Lucy San Pablo Burns, UCLA

52. Manan Desai, Syracuse University

53. Margo Todd, University of Pennsylvania

54. Marianne Hirsch, Columbia University

55. Mark Levine, University of California, Irvine

56. Max Cavitch, University of Pennsylvania

57. Mayanthi L. Fernando, University of California, Santa Cruz

58. Melissa Sanchez, University of Pennsylvania

59. Michael Gamer, University of Pennsylvania

60. Michael Rothberg, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

61. Michelle Clayton, UCLA

62. Najam Haider, Barnard College

63. Nancy Bentley, University of Pennsylvania

64. Natalie Melas, Cornell University

65. Nguyen-vo Thu-huong, UCLA

66. Nikhil Pal Singh, NYU

67. Page Fortna, Columbia University

68. Patricia Morton, University of California, Riverside

69. Persis Karim, San Jose State University

70. Piya Chatterjee, University of California, Riverside.

71. Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi, San Francisco State University

72. Raka Ray, University of California, Berkeley

73. Saadia Toor, City University of New York

74. Saba Mahmood, University of California, Berkeley

75. Sabina Sawhney, Hofstra University

76. Sheldon Pollock, Columbia University

77. Shelley Feldman, Cornell University

78. Shu-mei Shih, UCLA

79. Simona Sawhney, University of Minnesota

80. Steve Hahn, University of Pennsylvania

81. Susan Edmunds, Syracuse University

82. Suvir Kaul, University of Pennsylvania

83. Taher Herzallah, University of California, Riverside

84. Tariq Thachil, Yale University

85. Timothy Brennan, University of Minnesota

86. Toni Bowers, University of Pennsylvania

87. Toorjo Ghose, University of Pennsylvania

88. Tsitsi Jaji, University of Pennsylvania

89. Vijay Prashad, Trinity College

90. Viranjini Munasinghe, Cornell University

91. Warren Breckman, University of Pennsylvania

92. Zachary Lesser, University of Pennsylvania

93. Rei Terada, UC Irvine

94. Ravi Palat, Binghamton University

95. Irma T. Elo, University of Pennsylvania

96. Gregory Mann, Columbia University

97. Qadri Ismail, Univerisity of Minnesota

98. Nik Heynen, University of Georgia

99. Shefali Chandra, Washington University St. Louis

100. Jason McGrath, University of Minnesota

101. Ismail Poonawala, UCLA

102. Zohreh Sullivan, UIUC

103. Richard Dienst, Rutgers University

104. Charles E. Butterworth, University of Maryland

105. Gabriel Piterberg, Professor of History, UCLA

106. Jennifer Olmsted, Drew University

107. Katherine C. King, University of California at Los Angeles

108. Dina Rizk Khoury, George Washington University

109. Sondra Hale, Los Angeles (UCLA)

110. Caren Kaplan, Professor, UC Davis

111. Carole S. Vance, Columbia University

112. Karen Brodkin, Professor Emerita, UCLA

113. Lee Zimmerman, Hofstra University

114. Louise Fortmann, UC Berkeley

115. David Klein, California State University, Northridge

116. Barrie Thorne, University of California, Berkeley

117. Ahlam Muhtaseb, California State University, San Bernardino

118. Neil Smith, CUNY

119. Carole H. Browner, UCLA

120. Kamala Visweswaran, University of Texas

121. Guy Pollio, Nassau Community College

122. Mona Mehdy, Univ of Texas at Austin

123. Snehal Shingavi, University of Texas, Austin

124. Tim Corrigan, University of Pennsylvania

125. Paul Saint-Amour, University of Pennsylvania

126. Michael Goldman, University of Minnesota

127. Huma Dar, UC Berkeley

128. Zachary Lockman, New York University

129. Rebecca L. Stein, Duke University

130. Dohra Ahmad, St. John�s University

131. Richard Falk, UCSB

132. Sondra Hale, UCLA

133. Gayatri Gopinath, NYU

134. Shane Minkin, Swarthmore College

135. Lisa Duggan, NYU

136. Hatem Bazian, UC Berkeley

137. Jed Esty, University of Pennsylvania

138. Christopher L. Chiappari, St. Olaf College

139. Aniruddha Das, Columbia University

140. Thomas Pepper, University of Minnesota

141. Helen Scott, University of Vermont

142. Gayatri Chakravoty Spivak, Columbia University

143. Lisa Hajjar UCSB

144. Stephanie McCurry, University of Pennsylvania

145. S. Shankar, University of Hawai�i at Manoa

146. Cindi Katz, CUNY.

147. Nada Elia, Antioch University � Seattle

148. Grace Kao, University of Pennsylvania

149. Nancy Scheper-Hughes, UC Berkeley

150. Bruce Braun, University of Minnesota

151. Katie Kane, University of Montana Original advertisement by David Horowitz Freedom Center appearing in 24 April, 2012 issue of New York Times:

[Image from electronicintifada.net]



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