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30 september 2012, The Israeli Communist Party http://www. maki.org.il המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית الحزب الشيوعي الاسرائيلي (Israel)
Over
1000 faculty members of academic institutions all over Israel last week
signed a petition protesting the Israeli Council of Higher Education's
subcommittee's decision not to allow Ben-Gurion University's Department of
Politics and Government to register students beginning in the 2013-14
academic year. The decision, which still needs approval from the plenum,
effectively closes the department. The program is very popular and was now
accepting only one out of four applicants for a class of 150 students.
The
decision by the Council for Higher Education not to permit new students to
enroll in Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's Department of Politics and
Government, and thus to bring about its closure, is unprecedented in its
severity. The behavior of the council, which is headed by right-wing
Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar, raises concerns that the body entrusted with
developing and preserving the country's higher education system is being
influenced by decidedly non-academic pressures and considerations that
threaten academic freedom. "Israeli academic freedom is under severe
attack," the petition, signed by faculty from universities and colleges
around the country, states.
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The extreme-tight movement "Im Tirtzu – Rebuilding a Zionist
Society" has been involved with the issue for a few years and has
continued to push for close the politics and government program. "Im
Tirtzu" found two years ago, that nine out of 11 professors in the
department had signed "radical left-wing petitions."
Foreign academics have also criticized the decision. "If the
committee intends to prevent scientific research that internationally known
researchers are prepared to defend, Israel could lose the world's esteem,"
wrote Prof. Richard Anderson, a UCLA political scientist. Prof. Eric Sheppard
of the University of Minnesota, president of the American Geographical Society,
said that such a move would have "damaging consequences, not only in Israeli
academia's relations with the world, but also with the effort to attain
knowledge and understanding everywhere."
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