Education and Scholarship

February 7 Statement by Ford Foundation President Susan Berresford And Nathan Cummings Foundation President Lance Lindblom (Updated February 23)

NEW YORK, 7 February 2006 — Our foundations agreed to be among the funders of the American Association of University Professors AAUP conference on academic freedom and the issue of academic boycotts because we strongly support academic freedom and the AAUP's unequivocal statement opposing academic boycotts.

We were therefore distressed to learn today that background reading material distributed to conference participants by the organizers included an anti-Semitic paper by a Holocaust denier. This completely unacceptable error was discovered by the AAUP, and AAUP General Secretary Roger Bowen issued a strong statement of apology repudiating the content of the paper and admitting the mistake.

While we accept that this offensive paper does not reflect the views of the AAUP, we believe its errant inclusion in the conference materials has undermined the credibility of this conference as a forum for intellectually honest and rigorous exchange. We believe this error has diminished the chance that the constructive dialogue that was originally intended will in fact occur, and has undercut the chance that the meeting will be taken seriously.

After admitting the error and withdrawing the offending paper, the AAUP has made its own decision to go forward with the meeting. While we disagree with this decision, we urge the conference organizers and participants to adhere to the highest standards of scholarly discussion and dialogue.

Ford Foundation Addendum, 23 February

The Ford Foundation remains supportive of the AAUP and its vigorous defense of academic freedom. Like the AAUP, we believe that serious academic dialogue that engages those who disagree is both needed and welcome.

Our original decision to support the conference on academic boycotts last year was based on the AAUP's historic commitment to academic freedom. The conference was designed to be part of a larger effort by the AAUP to promote its consistent opposition to academic boycotts, an effort which we continue to support. Our grant will make it possible, for example, for the AAUP to publish a special edition of its journal, Academe, containing its complete position paper opposing academic boycotts. The journal is due out this summer.

At the time the above statement was issued, the AAUP had expressed its intention to go forward with the conference as planned. Subsequently, the AAUP leadership announced it would postpone the conference, a decision welcomed by both foundations.

The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.