In September of 2016, Riley repeatedly pushed for BDS — specifically the academic boycott of Israel — at Syracuse.
Riley first expressed her position in response to a controversy that erupted at Syracuse when an Israeli filmmaker was disinvited from screening his film on campus because he was Israeli.
In an article chronicling the controversy, Riley was cited as a supporter of the BDS movement and quoted as accusing the anti-BDS professors on campus of painting its supporters as a “bunch of bullies.”
Following the controversy, Riley signed a petition reaffirming her support for the BDS movement.
A few weeks later, Riley signed a petition opposing an upcoming conference at Syracuse because it involved a collaboration with Tel Aviv University (TAU).
Signatories of the petition expressed support for the BDS movement in general and specifically endorsed the guidelines laid out by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).
After rejecting the idea of dialogue, the petition concluded that BDS “rightly names Israeli occupation and apartheid as the root of the conflict and offers a realistic path toward ending Israeli apartheid by targeting its structural basis.”
