IT’S ACADEMIC: Brooklyn College lecture calls for boycott of Israel
An event at Brooklyn College calling for boycotts and sanctions against Israel went off calmly Thursday with the panelists speaking to a largely supportive crowd.
The college had been criticized for a lecture co-sponsored by the college’s political science department and by a student-run group called Students for Justice in Palestine. It featured speakers from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, which supports boycotts it likens to the anti-apartheid movement against South Africa to compel Israel in its policies toward Palestinians.
Critics had said a publicly funded college should not sponsor an anti-Israel lecture. The college said sponsorship is not the same thing as an endorsement, and figures like Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke in favor of free speech in supporting the school’s decision to hold the event while condemning the content.