It’s actually simple and it has nothing to do with academic freedom.

–If I thought Zionism is racism or Israel was an apartheid state, I would support an academic boycott.

But I don’t, so I won’t.

–If there was an academic boycott of universities and colleges in the West Bank, I would support it

But there’s not, so I won’t.

–If BDS drew the line at the 1967 Green Line, I would support it.

You get the point.

(The organizers at the ASA concede their action is only symbolic, without seeming to understand the symbolic nature of their own action.)