Statement from AAAS President to Israeli Resolution

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

At the 2013 conference, AAAS became the first academic association to support
“The Resolution to Support the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions.” After the
announcement was made, many of the original signatories, board members, and
I received supportive emails and many more hostile-threatening emails from non
AAAS members. As president, I wanted to ensure that our members were not
targeted and thus decided to delete the signatories names and the names of our
board members from the statement that is now published on the Association for
Asian American Studies website. While I continue to get hateful emails, I was
saddened to hear that there was a misunderstanding among our AAPI
community members about how this resolution surfaced and passed; many
falsely believed that I led the resolution.
As president, I do not propose resolutions nor do I push a resolution forward. The
process that is outlined in our policy and procedure dictates a process that, I and
the executive board, must follow. We did our due diligence and followed our P&P
and referred the resolution to the general members to vote on. At the general
business meeting the members who were present voted and the resolution
passed unanimously. The resolution was written with 29 signatories and no one
on the board took part in the writing or the dissemination of the resolution. This
was the will of the membership and my role as president is to ensure that
process of followed.
This resolution has sparked dialogue (good and bad) among our community
members. AAPI community leader have been contacted by various organizations
encouraging them to convince us to reconsider our vote. This is not possible.
Our association must abide by the policy and procedures set forth and the vote
remains. However, what has become increasingly clear is the need to have a
session regarding “The Resolution to Support the Boycott of Israeli Academic
Institutions.” I hope to engage in conversations with our AAPI community leaders
who have ties with both parties involved to organize a session that will yield
respectful and healthy dialogue at the 2014 meeting.
I thank you for your continued support of our association. Together we are
making a difference, but we have much to learn and grow from each other. I look
forward to exchanges of ideas and thoughtful dialogue.
Sincerely,

Mary Yu Danico
President, Association for Asian American Studies