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Veena Dubal, Genevieve Lakier, and Na’ama RokemAcademic Freedom / Academic Boycott
Wednesday, May 6, 2026, 5:00–6:30pm
During the spring 2024 encampments, there was a national discussion of divestment from Israel—the “D” in BDS—because divestment was the central demand of the anti-genocide protesters. However, there was comparatively little discussion of boycott, the “B.” And whereas those who oppose divestment tend to appeal to the principle of institutional neutrality, those who oppose boycott more often reach for that of academic freedom.
For defenders of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement within the academy, boycott may be the harder case. Harder, because although defenders of BDS may be hostile, indifferent, or only weakly attached to the principle of institutional neutrality, most will want to defend academic freedom, and because there is at least the appearance of a tension between defending academic freedom and supporting a boycott of academic institutions. Although the event is prompted by the call to boycott Israeli academic institutions, it need not be limited to that particular case.
Please join us for a conversation on academic freedom and academic boycott with Veena Dubal, Genevieve Lakier, and Na’ama Rokem, moderated by 3CT fellow Anton Ford.
Veena Dubal is professor of law at the University of California, Irvine, and general counsel of the American Association of University Professors. Professor Dubal’s work encompasses a range of topics, including the impact of digital technologies and emerging legal frameworks on workers’ lives; the interplay between law, work, and identity; and the role of law and lawyers in solidarity movements. Her research has been cited internationally in legal decisions, including by the California Supreme Court, and her research and commentary are regularly featured in media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, NPR, and CNN.
Genevieve Lakier is Professor of Law and Herbert and Marjorie Fried Teaching Scholar at the University of Chicago. She is an expert in the First Amendment, particularly as it relates to freedom of speech and press, civil rights and liberties, law and anthropology, media law, and criminal procedure. Her work examines the changing meaning of freedom of speech in the United States, the role that legislatures play in safeguarding free speech values, and the fight over freedom of speech on the social media platforms.
Na’ama Rokem is Associate Professor, Comparative Literature and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago, where she works on Modern Hebrew and German-Jewish literature. Her first book, Prosaic Conditions: Heinrich Heine and Spaces of Zionist Literature (Northwestern University Press, 2013) argues that prose—as a figure of thought, a mode and a medium—played an instrumental role in the literary foundations of the Zionist revolution.
This event is free and open to the public, and registration is recommended. Please email us at ccct@uchicago.edu if you require any accommodations to enable your full participation.
