Lawmakers in New York described the ASA boycott as "targeted discrimination against Israel that betrays the values of academic freedom that we hold dear."[1][29][30] In January 2014, they put forward an anti-BDS law that would have banned universities and colleges from funding organizations that "have undertaken an official action boycotting certain countries or their higher education institutions." But the proposed law faced sharp criticism over its implications on free speech and was discarded.[31][32][33]