SUBJECT: &NAME &NAME letter Well done the presidents ! &NAME &NAME <QUOTE> Dear &NAME colleague , This is to report that the recent past presidents of the &NAME have written a letter to the press in support of a fellow linguist . The letter was published in today 's edition of the &NAME . The wording makes it clear that we wrote as individuals , not on behalf of the &NAME , but we felt that &NAME members should know about it because we mention the &NAME . The text of the letter , as published , follows . &NAME &NAME We are writing in support of &NAME &NAME , who is under investigation by the University of &NAME Institute for Science and Technology for removing &NUM &NAME members from the editorial board of a journal she privately owns and publishes . We may speak for many in our field because we are the recent past presidents of the Linguistics Association of &NAME &NAME . We believe that &NAME 's treatment of &NAME and subsequent publicity are disproportionate . Although &NAME denies considering dismissal , &NAME has been publicly reprimanded on the &NAME website and an inquiry set in motion . Like the rest of the academic community , we are divided over whether or not the boycott of &NAME institutions is justified , and even more so over whether &NAME was right to extend it to individual &NAME scholars . However , we all agree that the discrimination by &NAME against the &NAME raises issues that are far more serious than the academic boycott , and we regret the way that this issue is serving to divert attention . We are also concerned at the potential infringement of &NAME 's liberty by &NAME and at the precedent this would set . Whether or not an individual academic wishes to engage outside the university in a political action , such as the boycott of the &NAME academic community , is not an issue for the employing organisation . &NAME &NAME &NAME University &NAME &NAME University of &NAME &NAME &NAME and &NAME &NAME University College &NAME &NAME &NAME &NAME College &NAME &NAME &NAME University of &NAME If you want more information about the background , a good source is an article in Thursday 's &NAME ( &NAME ) , which you can find at &WEBSITE &NAME ( &NAME ) &NAME &NAME and Linguistics , University College &NAME , &NAME Street , &NAME &NAME &NAME . &NUM ( &NUM ) &NUM &NUM &NUM ; fax &NUM ( &NUM ) &NUM &NUM &NUM ; &WEBSITE <END_QUOTE> &NAME &NAME &NAME Fellow Language Studies &NAME &NAME University &NAME , &NAME &NAME &NAME 