More than 500 academicians from over a dozen universities, colleges and professional schools in New Jersey and Pennsylvania announced today that they were suspending their collaboration with UNESCO. They said the move was a protest against UNESCO’s vote last month to exclude Israel from membership in its European regional grouping and to cut off cultural aid to Israel.
A statement signed by the academicians, including several university presidents, accused the UN agency of betraying “its avowed principles by acting as an instrument of political aggression.” The statement applauded the unanimous recommendation of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to withhold American financial support from UNESCO until the anti-Israel resolutions initiated by the Arab and Communist bloc delegations are repealed.
Many of the signatories who have had relationships with UNESCO said they would continue their efforts to aid educational, scientific and cultural development in underdeveloped countries but felt compelled to do so outside of the UNESCO apparatus. The institutions represented by the signatories include Rutgers University, Bryn Mawr College, Drexel University, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania.
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