Education minister demands university chiefs sign pledge to keep politics off campus |
Education Minister Yoav Kisch on Wednesday demanded that university chiefs sign a commitment to refrain from advancing political agendas on campus, and threatened to advance legislation enabling financial sanctions against their schools if they refuse.
The Association of University Heads, an umbrella group for the country’s universities, declared it would refuse the request, denouncing the move as an electioneering stunt by Kisch.
There is ongoing tension between the government and some university leaders, who have opposed some key controversial policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline coalition, including the attempted firing of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and the government’s far-reaching plan to overhaul the judiciary.
The proclamation Kisch is pushing commits university chiefs to “avoid giving political opinions or taking institutional steps of a political nature,” and “to prevent disruptions, shutdowns or strikes in the activities of institutes that come from a place of division or political campaign.”
Kisch warned in a statement that if the university heads refuse, the government “will advance a bill sponsored by fellow Likud MK Avichay Buaron that anchors in law the limits of permitted political........