The names of at least five Utah college and university presidents flank a list of more than 300 others publicly denouncing Britain's new University and College Union boycott of Israeli educational institutions.

"Generally speaking, boycotts that attempt to truncate the free exchange of ideas are a very, very bad idea," said University of Utah President Michael K. Young, who has joined the anti-boycott statement initiated by Columbia University. He said an economic boycott is understandable, but the kind limiting thought is "a terrible idea."

The call to college and university presidents everywhere came shortly after the United Kingdom's UCU passed a boycott resolution at its conference in May.

Young says the UCU's views are "particularly thoughtless," "ahistorical" and "hypocritical beyond belief." He said that institutions in the UK continue to associate with and accept money from countries in similar political situations, particularly Saudi Arabia.

A full-page advertisement in Wednesday's New York Times, paid for by the American Jewish Committee, contains a full list of institutions joining Columbia's President Lee Bollinger, who says, "I find this idea utterly antithetical to the fundamental values of the academy, where we will not hold intellectual exchange hostage to the political disagreements of the moment."

In his statement, "Boycott Israeli Universities? Boycott Ours, Too!," Bollinger goes on to say that Columbia will "embrace Israeli scholars and universities that the UCU is now all too eager to isolate — as we embrace scholars from many countries regardless of divergent views on their government's policies."

"In signing this document, BYU lends its support to those who believe this boycott not only threatens international collegiality, but also undermines the importance of the international marketplace of ideas," said Brigham Young University President Cecil O. Samuelson.

The names of Southern Utah University President Michael T. Benson and Utah Valley State College President William A. Sederburg also appear on the list, which proclaims that hundreds of colleges and universities "gladly stand together with our many colleagues in British, American and Israeli universities against such intellectually shoddy and politically biased attempts to hijack the central mission of higher education."

Dean O'Driscoll, SUU spokesman, said Benson's decision to sign was done after much thought and research.

"He thought it was the right thing to do," O'Driscoll said. "What was going on was against freedom of ideas and freedom of expression, and that's just not a good stance to have on a university campus, which is all about those freedoms."