JVP Academic Council endorses the call to boycott the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA)

Statement: JVP Academic Council Endorses Call to Boycott Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association

The Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) endorses the call to boycott the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA) in response to the ASA leadership’s anti-democratic refusal to put a member-led resolution to a membership vote. 

The 2026 Resolution for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions was signed by 428 ASA members, far exceeding the 3% of the membership required by the bylaws to put a resolution to a membership vote. Despite this, President Shelley Correll and Executive Director Heather Washington made a unilateral decision to set aside the ASA’s own established procedures to block a democratic membership vote on the resolution. In response, Sociologists for Palestine (S4P) have rightly called for a boycott of the 2026 Annual Meeting. The Academic Council follows their lead and endorses this boycott–and commends the more than 700 sociologists who have already pledged to honor it.

The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement is a non-violent form of resistance to the Israeli state’s persistent denial of Palestinian freedom and equality. It is supported with near unanimity by Palestinian civil society: over 170 organizations, including academic associations, launched the call for BDS in 2005. The boycott of complicit Israeli academic institutions holds them responsible for their failure to resist and cease collaboration with Israeli state policies of apartheid, occupation, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. It demands accountability for their multifaceted involvement in Israel’s violations of human rights and crimes against humanity. In its Code of Ethics, the ASA professes to uphold values such as “Respect for People’s Rights, Dignity, and Diversity”; “Social Responsibility”; and “Human Rights.” As a member-driven organization, ASA should allow its members to debate and vote in accord with those lofty values by joining the global BDS movement.

Israeli universities play a central role in furthering Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide. They do so by placing expertise in the service of the Israeli state, producing military and surveillance technologies, tightening linkages with weapons manufacturers and the Israeli army, weaponizing academic research to legitimize Palestinian dispossession, and creating legal frameworks to justify war crimes. Far from being bastions of free speech, they systematically suppress and punish critical voices, including student protests. In addition, Israeli universities discriminate against their own students and faculty who are Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, limiting or prohibiting rights of speech and assembly on campus given second-class status in gaining access to courses and specific academic programs.

The 2026 Resolution for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions, signed by over 700 sociologists, follows the proud traditions of scholars and academics, and sociologists in particular, standing against injustice. This tradition includes many examples from the history of the American Sociological Association which now calls into question its long-standing principles. In 1987, the ASA Council voted to divest from South African companies during apartheid and as well as to divest from companies that were primarily defense-related, discriminatory towards women and minorities, and/or anti-labor. In 2003, ASA members voted on a resolution calling for an immediate end to the invasion of Iraq. In 2013, the ASA filed an amicus brief with the US Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage. In 2022, the ASA condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We concur with S4P’s assessment that the ASA Executive Council’s repression of the vote on the proposed resolution calling for a boycott of Israeli institutions is hypocritical and emblematic of the “Palestine exception,” and now endorse the call to boycott the 2026 Annual Meeting. 

President Correll chose the theme of the 2026 ASA Annual Meeting to be “Disrupting the Status Quo: Putting Sociologists to Work for a More Equitable Society.” One of the questions to be addressed by this theme, according to the ASA website, is “How can we put sociology to work to create a better, more equitable world?” As Jews committed to tikkun olam (repair of the world), tzedek (justice), and kavod habriyot (human dignity), we recognize and share this noble goal. However, we must ask the ASA leadership why their words and actions exempt Palestine from the application of their own stated principles? If ASA is to rise to this challenge to act in accord with principles of justice and equality, then it is clear the members will have to push their organization to live up to its own ideals. We join the call by S4P and encourage sociologists to (1) boycott the 2026 ASA Annual Meeting in New York and (2) refuse to reserve hotel rooms in the official ASA hotel block. We encourage sociologists to design alternative forms of meeting, support junior scholars with networking and professionalization opportunities, and review the S4P ASA Boycott FAQ for more resources.

The Jewish Voice for Peace Academic Council is a network of scholars dedicated to furthering JVP’s vision and values. Drawing upon our shared commitment to both progressive Jewish values and Palestinian liberation, we organize in solidarity with the Palestinian freedom struggle in educational and academic settings. We draw upon our skills as scholars, educators, and writers to develop critical analysis of contemporary censorship on Palestine. We oppose the deployment of the charge of antisemitism to censor or criminalize speech critical of the State of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.  We defend employment rights, academic freedom, and rights of association within higher education and confirm the core values of Jewish Voice for Peace.