The following letter speaks for itself. It is from the President of Tel Aviv University and is posted on a new site that monitors "anti-Israel" expression on campuses within Israel. There is a campaign, evidently, to expel a Palestinian student at Tel Aviv who has supported the BDS campaign. The president's calm response should serve as a model to the rest of Israeli society, and to American schools plagued by outside harassment. Imagine if UC Santa Barbara had told Abe Foxman just to go away?
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
May 3, 2009
Dear Governors and Friends,
I am writing to you to clarify the University’s standing on the recent debateregarding Omar Barghouti, a Tel Aviv University master’s student of philosophy.
Mr. Barghouti is leading an international campaign to boycott Israeli universities,
despite being a student at one of those universities.
A university campus should be a place that encourages and tolerates free speech,no matter how offensive the expressed opinions may be to the majority of
students and faculty at that institution, or indeed to the public at large.
Our university has adopted a similar policy also in previous occasions.
Moreover, if legal issues are involved, a university does not have the authority to
prosecute individuals. Rather, such a matter should be pursued by the State
through legal channels.
In response, therefore, to the petition calling for the expulsion of Mr. Barghouti
that will be submitted to us in the near future, the University cannot and will not
expel this student based on his political views or actions. He will be assessed only
on the basis of his academic achievements and excellence.
I thank you for your time, and look forward to seeing many of you in May at the
annual Board of Governors meeting.
Yours faithfully,Prof. Zvi Galil
