WE ARE CARU:
THE CUNY ALLIANCE FOR RESPONSIBLE UNIONISM

And we ask you to

1. read further to see how PSC President Bowen's claim (made in a open letter of June 2, 2005 to the University Community) that the union spoke out against the boycott of Israeli academics is demonstrably specious



2. sign CARU's petition decrying the PSC's silence on the boycott

The Background

On April 22, 2005, the Association of University Teachers (AUT), a faculty union in Britain, passed resolutions boycotting two Israeli universities and blacklisting their faculty.

As noted in a recent newsletter from CARU, the normally vocal PSC was silent on the boycott: it issued no public declaration, and reportedly had no position on it (New York Sun, 5/3/05). That silence contrasted sharply with the union's vigorous defense of the academic freedom of Mohamed Yousry, a suspect (now convicted) in a terrorism-related case; Sami Al-Arian, who was suspended by the University of South Florida because he was a terrorism suspect and who is now on trial for being a Hamas financier; and Susan Rosenberg, a former member of the Weather Underground, who in 1984 was sentenced to 58 years in federal prison for possessing over 700 pounds of explosives.

On June 2, 2005, Barbara Bowen circulated a letter to the University Community in which she claimed that "the PSC has not been silent" on the boycott of Israeli academics. In fact, the PSC's assertion that it spoke out in defense of Israeli academics is simply false, as an examination of the record demonstrates.

The PSC's Specious Arguments

The PSC President bases her assertion that the union was not silent on the boycott on the following two arguments, each of which can be shown to be specious.

The specious we had no time to act argument

President Bowen claims that the union expressed no public position on the boycott because its Delegate Assembly had not met during the period (starting on April 22) when the boycott was in effect and, by the time of the assembly meeting on May 26, the boycott had been rescinded. The implication that PSC had intended to speak out at its May meeting if only the boycott had not been rescinded is proved false by the union's own documents.

On May 19th, nearly a month after the boycott was implemented and after other groups had condemned it (for example the AAUP on May 3), the PSC published the agenda for its upcoming assembly meeting of May 26. The issue of the Israeli boycott was not listed as an agenda item.

The fact that the boycott was not listed on the union's published agenda for the May meeting, even though the agenda was published well after the boycott was implemented, proves that the union had no intention to act on the boycott at its meeting that month. Indeed, although the boycott was rescinded only hours before the meeting of May 26 took place, a summary of that meeting indicates that the boycott was not mentioned.

The specious we spoke through others argument

President Bowen claims that the union spoke through its two national affiliates, the AAUP and the AFT. In that regard, she notes that the AAUP resolution condemning the boycott was passed with the support of the PSC member on the AAUP's Committee on Academic Freedom. Further, President Bowen notes that she helped craft and voted for a similar resolution by the AFT.

The unpublicized actions of PSC representatives at conferences of its affiliated unions are not the equivalent of a declaration by the PSC itself condemning the Israeli boycott. The fact remains, the PSC stayed silent while others condemned the boycott.

The Bottom Line

Facts are stubborn things. In this case they show that the PSC never issued a public statement condemning the boycott of Israeli academics and that, well after the boycott began and other groups had spoken out, the union had no intention to deal with the issue. President Bowen's claim that the union spoke out is demonstrably specious.

Sign Our Petition

We urge you to register your objection to the PSC's unjustified and hypocritical silence on the blacklist of Israelis by adding your name to the following petition:

We the undersigned decry the PSC's failure to condemn the boycott of two Israeli universities and the blacklisting of its faculty. Further, we urge the PSC to abandon its current policy on academic freedom whereby the union selectively defends the rights of its ideological mates and no others.

To add your name to the petition, click on the following link, and type in the requested information. (Name, Title, Email, & College).

http://www.petitiononline.com/psc53005/petition.html

We Are CARU
The CUNY Alliance for Responsible Unionism