Commentary: Former MLA Committee Members Ask, “Whither Academic Freedom?”

Eva Cherniavsky and Amit R. Baishya
Technology Review

Excerpt: We write as former members of the Modern Language Association (MLA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom and Professional Rights and Responsibilities (CAFPRR). Both of us resigned from CAFPRR after the refusal of the MLA Executive Council to advance Resolution 2025-1 to the organization’s delegate assembly. 

Responding to the genocide in Gaza and citing the revised position of the AAUP on the legitimacy of academic boycotts, the resolution called on MLA members to embrace boycott, divestment, and sanction (BDS) actions against Israel. We recount some of the events that led to our decision and present three major concerns that arise from disallowing the debate.

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