An agreement was reached on Wednesday afternoon between Education Minister and Chairman of the Council For Higher Education Naftali Bennett, and the Council representatives after a year of intense debating. The debating was done in conjunction with the heads of all of the Universities in the country who have signed on to the agreement which will establish an ethical code for their activities within a year’s time. The institutions of higher learning will be asked to include the values set into the code of ethics in their disciplinary charters. At the pinnacle of the ethos outlined in the agreement, was the importance of the freedom and excellence of academic research in Israel, while negating any bias, bigotry or discrimination based on political association within academia.

Following the agreement Bennett said: “The ethical code was born out of a very real need within the academic world. It is simple: Leave politics outside of the classroom. Without altering the autonomy of any of the institutions and giving each the room it needs to express its distinctive characteristics that define each institution. We will be safeguarding the freedom of speech and freedom of research while disallowing calls for boycotts or excommunication. Our collaborative work with our partners on the Committee of the Heads of Universities in Israel, is very welcome. I wish to thank the for all of their help in finalizing this most important issue that will positively impact all of the thousands of students in Israel. The forward momentum of academia will continue to push onwards in every subject where it is desired.”

Within the ethical code are five major points that the institutions have a year to adopt and work into their own disciplinary charters.

They are:

1: The prohibition against taking a stance of boycotting the State of Israel, which is seen as being an invalid step and one which is anti-democratic, as there are elements of communal punishment in it, and it goes against the very foundations of academia.

2: A prohibition against discrimination, for good or bad, of any students for their political opinions.

3: A prohibition against discriminating against any staff member, or trainee, during the initial acceptance period or during an advancement hearing or regular review due to their political preferences or opinions.

4: A prohibition against creating or disseminating party line propoganda under the guise of teaching. A teacher, professor or class leader may not use their position in order to systematically propagate a political agenda that clearly goes beyond the scope of the necessary examples required by the subject material.

5: A prohibition against the presentation of a political opinion of one of the staff members as representing the opinion of the institution in which they teach.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)