Importance of boycotting

Letter to the editor: SJP petition is anti-Semitic

To the editors:
For the second time in as many weeks, Orient contributors have published articles as agents of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a movement that has called for an “academic and cultural boycott of Israeli institutions.”
Israel is not a perfect nation, and there are certainly aspects of its domestic and foreign policy that are open to criticism and debate. But make no mistake, the “Petition for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel” that has been circulated by SJP, is deeply anti-Semitic and should be labeled as such.
I make this claim within the framework of our State Department under former Secretary Clinton and President Obama who adopted the “Three Ds” test for identifying twenty-first century anti-Semitism
1. Demonization: SJP and its agents consistently and unfairly demonize Israel and compare its “genocidal practices” to those of the Nazis during the Holocaust or South African apartheid. Such comparisons are, of course, illegitimate and false.
2. Double Standards: The petition notes “Israel’s systemic violation of fundamental human rights.” The multitudes of nations with significantly worse human rights records than Israel (China, Russia and Saudi Arabia to name a small few) are left unmentioned.
3. Delegitimization: The petition questions Israel’s fundamental right to exist as a Jewish state and SJP’s agents label Zionism (the movement articulating the principle of Jewish self-determination) as racist.
SJP and their boycott petition fail the test.
In 2011, the State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Hannah Rosenthal said, “When all academics and experts from Israel are effectively banned or their conferences boycotted, or individual Jews are held responsible for Israeli policy—this is not objecting to a policy—this is anti-Semitism.”
Rather than boycotting Israel, Bowdoin should strive to invite those from all viewpoints to campus and expand debate towards the shared goal of a peaceful two-state solution.
Sincerely,
Alex Linhart ’06

Letter to the editor: Chegg strives for excellence

Students of Bowdoin,In the past few weeks, we received over 1,300 orders from Bowdoin students. With an average of more than four books per order, we were the first choice for most of you. Last week, this newspaper published a story critical of Chegg’s pricing and service and has given us 200 words to reply: go.
We take student feedback seriously. If your experience did not meet our standards for perfection, we will make it right. Soon, all Bowdoin customers will receive a survey by email. Please fill it out; your input will shape how we serve you next semester.Like Amazon, our prices will fluctuate based on inventory levels. We ensure that we have ample inventory and competitive pricing during back-to-school season because you decide from where to order your books. 1,300 of you would not have chosen Chegg if we were not competitive on price.
It is a privilege to serve you and an honor that so many Bowdoin students choose Chegg. We are working overtime, every day, to create a delightful experience for all of you—and millions of students like you across the country.
John FillmoreVice President of Required MaterialsChegg

Letter to the editor

April 16, 2015

To the editors:

The suicide rate among young Palestinians in Gaza is skyrocketing because their lives feel hopeless and they do not see a future growing up under Israel’s constant siege and almost biannual bombardment.

That juniors Zachary Albert, Rachel Snyder and Evan Eklund criticize the boycott of complicit academic and cultural institutions because “Israel’s right to exist” is “absent from” the “rhetoric” of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is baffling at best (“Denouncing SJP’s one-sided narrative,” April 10). The boycott doesn’t even call for a one-state or two-state solution. It calls on Israel to abide by international law: something it has adamantly refused to do.

The boycott, called for 10 years ago by hundreds of academics and faculty members in Palestinian civil society, is an institution-level boycott. This means that regardless of their political views, scholars from Israeli universities would be welcome to come and talk and present their research, as long as they did so as individual scholars, not as representatives or ambassadors of the state or its institutions.

The point of the boycott is to cut institutional ties with Israeli universities and cultural institutions for as long as they normalize, fully aid and abet Israel’s policies of apartheid, occupation, siege and systematic discrimination.

Sincerely,
Christopher Wedeman ’15
Student Leader of SJP

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