Academia generally takes great pleasure in moral exhibitionism, the conspicuous display of righteous indignation toward the world's supposed malefactors. At this historical moment, the world's academic community faces an important moral choice over the movement to "boycott" Israeli universities, meaning shut out Israeli scholars from the normal avenues of academic interchange: conferences, visiting professorships, and the like.This movement has no problem with Saudi Arabia's ban on religions other than Islam, no problem with the Mullahs' torture of democracy-seeking activists, or any other of the real evils perpetrated by regimes that are genuine tyrannies. By establishing a separate standard for the judgment one group, while excusing worse behavior on the part of others, the movement is overtly racist.So how has American academia risen to this moral challenge in its own sphere? Some prominent university presidents currently receive a grade of "incomplete,"...(Read Full Post)