The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement and Violations of Academic Freedom at Wayne State University

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS). The movement was organized in the United States and globally as a response to several decades of Israeli human rights abuses against the Palestinian people. BDS has been a nonviolent campaign comprising actions meant to end Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land. The campaigns have been diverse and waged nationally and locally in a range of places: from those targeting food cooperatives selling Israeli products to those directed at universities that invest in companies that benefit from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. As an example, the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel has sought to forge academic and cultural boycotts of Israeli academic and cultural institutions.