Dear Colleagues and University Leaders, 

The University has interpreted and implemented Act 710 of 2017 such that all invited speakers who wish to be paid for traveling and speaking on campus are required to sign a pledge and take a stand against the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement that targets Israeli institutions for violations of international law and human rights conventions. This situation recently received local and national attention when Nathan Thrall, a popular Jewish American author who was invited to campus, refused to sign the pledge, and spoke publicly about it as an infringement of his First Amendment right to free speech.

We the undersigned, students and teachers who are members of the University of Arkansas community, believe that the law as interpreted by the administration hinders our mission of providing a forum for public education and examined debate, particularly on controversial topics such as the ongoing conflict in Israel/Palestine. Nathan Thrall is only the latest invitee to campus who has refused to sign the pledge and engage with students and scholars on campus. We are writing today because as the conflict rages in the Middle East and we attempt to make sense of it, we find our ability to listen to and learn from multiple perspectives and foster an informed conversation radically curtailed by the University’s interpretation of the statute.

Many members of our community and our nation are affected by the violence and war in Israeli/Palestine and its regional and global effects. Students of all political opinions have sought forums to learn about the conflict, process grief, and participate in public discourse. It is incumbent that as a public institution we have the capacity to educate our students and community about the issue and to foster and an environment in which all perspectives can be reasoned and debated. 

Many scholars and public figures, and numerous scholarly associations and civil society actors support the BDS movement. But also, many individuals who do not support BDS nonetheless refuse, on principle, to sign the pledge because they consider it a violation of academic freedom and their rights of free speech.  In this situation, we ask that the University prioritize its mission of public education and do away with the pledge. Removing the pledge would also align the University with national and international conventions that promote the right to public debate such as the First Amendment to the US Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.