The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Academic Engagement Network (AEN) commend the International Studies Association (ISA) for the recent Governing Council vote rejecting the harmful and divisive Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) resolution by a 57-38 percent vote and for reaffirming the association’s core scholarly mission. We are also heartened that the Governing Council approved a counter-resolution, affirming the association’s commitment to its core principles, by a 50-43 percent vote.
Our organizations work closely with faculty, university and college leaders, and professional academic associations to advance academic freedom, protect open inquiry, and ensure that scholars of all backgrounds can fully participate in the intellectual life of their fields. We believe strongly that scholarly associations function best when they foster rigorous debate grounded in evidence, uphold viewpoint diversity, and maintain environments in which members feel welcome regardless of their national origin, religion, identity, or political perspective.
The ISA leadership’s decision reflects a clear commitment to those principles. By declining to adopt the BDS measure calling for the adoption of an academic boycott of Israel, ISA has upheld the association’s longstanding role as a forum for rigorous, pluralistic scholarship rather than political advocacy.
This outcome is significant. Academic associations across disciplines are increasingly confronting pressures that risk pulling them away from their scholarly purposes and into polarizing and divisive campaigns. ISA’s vote helps prevent the association from going down a slippery slope that could have undermined intellectual diversity, marginalized dissenting members, and compromised the association’s credibility as an inclusive professional body.
We hope the association will continue to prioritize processes that protect member inclusion, safeguard academic freedom, and ensure that ISA remains a welcoming home for the full diversity of its scholarly community, including Jewish and Zionist scholars, whose perspectives are an important part of the field’s intellectual pluralism.