The recent decision by noted physicist Stephen Hawking to call off plans to attend a major conference in Israel out of deference to an academic boycott advocated by some pro-Palestinian groups and the vote in late April by the membership of the Association for Asian American Studies to endorse such a boycott have again raised the issue of whether such boycotts violate the principles of academic freedom.

The AAUP's Committee on Women, responding to threats of sexual violence against a University of Connecticut student who issued an open letter to university president Susan Herbst, wrote President Herbst  urging the university to commit time and resources to the development of sound policies and procedures for managing sexual assault on campus.