July 16, 2020
Greetings to the University Community,
A main reason for the growth of universities in Israel and around the world is the understanding that in order to maintain academic activity at its highest level, both in research and in teaching, it is necessary to ensure academic freedom for researchers. Universities must be allowed to conduct their activities free of government dictates. This is the guiding principle in all leading institutions of research and higher education in the democratic world. Although I assume that the importance of academic freedom is understood by all of us, I will clarify the main reasons.
Thousands of research projects are conducted at our University at any given time, with the involvement of both faculty and students. This research is not top down. It is based on independent initiatives and insights from their initiators. This method of research has proven itself time and again all over the world and has led to a long list of groundbreaking research that has greatly contributed to human society. This method succeeds due to the absence of a dictated focus on research topics, and to the heartwarming recruitment in times of emergency to essential community research, as we witnessed now with our university faculty members conducting tens of corona-related research projects, which we hope will soon eradicate the pandemic. On the other hand, efforts that were made by countries, who we do not wish to emulate, to dictate and influence research from the outside, have miserably failed and at times led to destructive outcomes. We manage hundreds of teaching programs and develop new ones on the same basis as we do research. Here too it is clear to see the results of our method: hundreds of our graduates have contributed and continue to contribute greatly to science, to culture and to community life in Israel and worldwide.
The principle of academic freedom has been the guiding light of Israeli governments for many generations, and the explicit anchor in the Council for Higher Education Law, which states that every institution of higher education is “free to manage its academic and administrative matters, within its budget framework, as it sees fit.” It is from this same principle that both the Council for Higher Education (CHE) and the Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) were established. These bodies were intended to create a buffer between the political system and institutions of higher education by granting both the power to supervise over academic activity (CHE) and to allocate public resources (PBC) exclusively to bodies whose members are appointed on the basis of their professional expertise. This arrangement has operated for decades, with the CHE and PBC providing supervision that was always done on the basis of purposeful considerations, while respecting the institutions’ academic freedom. This freedom is a major reason why Israeli universities have flourished and thrived, and the major reason why universities in Israel have been able to make a tremendous contribution to the economy, as well as to culture and community life in Israel.
Unfortunately, since taking office, Minister Elkin has taken measured steps where each one undermines academic freedom and together they form a real threat to the principle of academic freedom. Thus, for example he tried to influence how we administer our exams and how to grade them. Minister Elkin chose to ignore the position taken by the CHE regarding exams and only following a petition submitted to the Supreme Court by the Universities’ Council (VERA), was the Minister forced to agree to the CHE’s position, granting the universities the freedom to determine which exams will be held on campus and under what conditions. Furthermore, Minister Elkin decided not to extend the term of appointment of Ms. Michal Neumann, Acting Director General of the CHE-PBC, for clearly impractical reasons. Another measure taken and connected to the CHE regards its body of seven members, of which three emerge from universities. As is the accepted way, these members are appointed from a list recommended by VERA, on the basis of individual suitability for the position, regardless of their university affiliation. Contrary to this procedure and without any prior discussion or advice of VERA, Minister Elkin declared explicitly that the person who will be appointed to serve on the PBC will be a faculty member from Ariel, only because of his university affiliation and regardless of his/her ability to effectively serve in this important position. This step taken raises worrying concerns that Minister Elkin has a declared goal to cease allocating the budget for higher education based on excellence in research, as is done today, but rather to make the budget uniform among all institutions. If the Minister succeeds in realizing this goal, it will create havoc among leading research universities in Israel, and first and foremost our University.
The picture drawn from all these measures is an unprecedented threat to academic freedom in Israel, and its direct implications are a threat to Israel’s society, to its economy, on its democracy and its culture. There is a consensus among the leadership of the University Presidents’ Council to resolutely confront the measures taken by the Minister of Higher Education in order to maintain status quo and to improve the development of Israel’s economy, culture and community life. The presiding Chair of VERA, Prof. Ron Rubin, resigned from his position in protest against the steps taken by Minister Elkin. Following Prof. Rubin’s unfortunate resignation, I have agreed to take on the task of leading VERA during this difficult period. The University Presidents’ Council will continue to be proactive in every way possible at its disposal in order to protect higher education in Israel.
We still hope that Minister Elkin will realize the importance of higher education and of the research universities, and will resume acting to promote it in coordination with us. This was our hope when he was appointed to the position. However, in light of recent events it is our duty to protect the academic activity in Israel even if the Minister decides to continue the confrontational approach he has taken thus far. The danger facing us is real. We need the support of the entire University community, namely our academic and administrative staff as well as the student population. I am convinced that we will obtain full mobilization for this effort, which in my opinion is of utmost importance.
Best regards,
Asher Cohen