The Anti-Defamation League and Academic Engagement Network issued a joint statement on Tuesday, raising concerns about anti-Israel content held at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers.
According to the ADL and AEN, a group called Geographers for Justice in Palestine organized numerous sessions at the annual meeting on March 17-21, including sessions titled “No Geographic Technology for Apartheid” and “Mapping and Counter-Mapping Genocide.”
Shira Goodman, vice president of advocacy and head of the Center to Combat Antisemitism in Education at the ADL, and Miriam Elman, executive director of AEN, said some of the sessions at the annual meeting “lacked factual accuracy, intellectual openness and a commitment to civil engagement.” (JNS sought comment from the association.)
“We are especially troubled that these issues have persisted, despite concerns raised following last year’s annual meeting,” the two said. “At that time, we urged AAG leadership to review its session selection and vetting processes. The apparent lack of progress on these matters raises serious questions about the association’s commitment to maintaining academic integrity and ensuring that its convenings reflect the highest standards of scholarship and discourse.”
They added that “a continued pattern of programming that lacks civility, disregards factual complexity and promotes exclusionary academic practices risks causing reputational harm to the association and to the broader academic community it represents, while also contributing to the marginalization and alienation of many of its Jewish members.”
Gary Langham, executive director of the association, told JNS that “in a world where science and academic freedom are under attack, the AAG was honored to host more than 5,000 academics from 100 countries.” He did not speak to the complaint about unfair or untrue content.
“Participants presented research for discussion and debate in more than 1,200 sessions,” he said. “Both presenters and participants are bound by strict professional conduct rules to encourage open discourse and freedom of thought.”
Goodman and Elman urged the association to “implement meaningful reforms to ensure that future meetings uphold the principles of academic rigor, viewpoint inclusivity and respectful dialogue.”
