Kansas University Chancellor Robert Hemenway and Provost Richard Lariviere joined thousands of other academics Monday in condemning an effort to ban collegiate exchanges between Britain and Israel.

The effort is led by Britain’s University and College Union, which says that the boycott is in response to Israeli academia’s involvement “in the occupation” of Gaza, the West Bank and other disputed territories, according to KU.

“We are all students of the world,” the two leaders wrote in a joint statement. “The academic exchange between scholars of different nations is an essential means by which we learn from each other and about each other.”

They said the boycott would have “a chilling effect” on the effort to share ideas and do research.

More than 11,000 academics have signed a petition rejecting the ban.