BENNETT’S UNIVERSITY CRACKDOWN
A “CODE of ethics” commissioned by Education Minister Naftali Bennett to regulate lecturers at Israeli universities is causing an uproar.
According to the code, drafted by Tel Aviv University Professor Asa Kasher, who also wrote IDF’s ethical guidelines, lecturers will not be allowed to express political views in front of their students and will have to clarify themselves if students demand explanations over “statements which create an impression of political activism”.
Mr Bennett’s code of ethics is being seen as the latest battle in the Israeli culture war. According to the draft, academics “will not allow themselves to deviate from the syllabus and the academic subject for any political activism, beyond a momentary and inconsequential diversion”.
It states that a “significant diversion” would be “improper and can be seen as taking advantage of a position of trust”. Mr Bennett is planning to ask the Israeli Council of Higher Education, which regulates academia, to approve the code. He said he was in favour of “full academic freedom” as well as: “Not allowing lecturers to push their own political agenda. We cannot allow for students to fear to express their views because they fear for their marks, or allow lecturers to call for a boycott of the institute where they teach. This is not against any political side, it applies both to the right and the left.”
The committee of the heads of Israeli universities has come out against the code, as has the national student union, which is threatening to close the universities and colleges if it is passed. President Reuven Rivlin expressed his opposition to the proposal, saying on Sunday: “Voices of the minority are vital for scientific research, for art, social sciences and the humanities.”