Hate Speech and Academic Freedom - (Critical Contemporary Antisemitism Studies) by Cary Nelson (Paperback)

About the Book

This book reveals the damage that antisemitism does to the identity of Jewish students, staff, and faculty. It details the challenges we face, then proposes specific ways to meet them.

Book Synopsis

This book reveals the damage that antisemitism does to the identity of Jewish students, staff, and faculty. It details the challenges we face, then proposes specific ways to meet them.

Review Quotes

"...Nelson's description and analysis of anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and anti-Israelism on campus is spot on throughout the book. Indeed, his nuanced reflections on these campus phenomena are likely to become the gold standard upon which future scholarship about these phenomena will be built."

-David Rodman, Israel Affairs

"Hate Speech and Academic Freedom is a desperately needed book that reminds academic leaders that they've allowed their institutions to be overrun by people who turn them into propaganda organs. Every college president should read it, then pass it down the chain of command."

--George Leef, National Review

"Hate Speech and Academic Freedom: The Antisemitic Assault on Basic Principles, by Cary Nelson, is the perfect book to understand how we got to where we are today... [I]t is invaluable in its analysis of the intersection of academic freedom and limiting antisemitism on campus."

-- Elder of Ziyon

"This is an essential book for anyone seeking to understand how serious the threat today is to Jewish university students and teachers."

-- Anthony Julius, Professor, Faculty of Laws, University College London; deputy chairman, Mishcon de Reya LLP; author, Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Antisemitism in England

"Free speech is a central issue on American campuses today, and Israel, Zionism, antiemitism, and the BDS movement provide much of the substance of the ongoing debates. In this wonderfully well-informed and liberal-minded analysis, Cary Nelson constructs guardrails for the ideological combatants and suggests ways to keep the arguments civil. What kinds of resolutions and policies are protected by our free speech rights, and what kinds aren't? When do the acts of student groups or university authorities cross the line into antisemitism, and when not? Which types of boycotts constitute legitimate protest, and which types don't? Nelson is studiously careful, fair, and smart in making the necessary distinctions. If you plan to join the debates, read this book first."

-- Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ; author, The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On "Liberal" as an Adjective

"Let me state outright: Hate Speech and Academic Freedom is the most comprehensive study of the topic ever published. In fact, there is nothing like it. For Nelson, the campus occupies hallowed ground precisely because it is intended to provide sanctuary--indeed, encouragement--for people who care about ideas. But ideas matter only when their validity can be ascertained through debate and discussion. For a narrative without evidence, no matter how often repeated in an increasingly networked world, elides its history into mythology. What should be happening on campuses regarding the Middle East conflict--meticulous research with a careful examination of data and events aiming for clarity--has too often been discarded for an advocacy that masquerades as scholarship with books and articles feeding each other in a cul-de-sac-like echo chamber. Cary Nelson has put together an exhaustive analysis of the serious narrowing of academic work on Israel."

-- Donna Robinson Divine, Morningstar Professor Emerita of Jewish Studies and Professor Emerita of Government, Smith College; coeditor, Word Crimes: Reclaiming the Language of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

"Academic freedom, as traditionally understood, guarantees the right to pursue research in pursuit of the truth, independently of whether its results happen to be accepta

About the Author

Cary Nelson is Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the author or editor of 36 books. He served as national president of the American Association of University Professors and is currently Chair of the Alliance for Academic Freedom.