Gal-on criticizes closure of BGU’s politics program
10/15/2012 01:09
Professor from university labels Meretz leader’s comments as "pre-election farting...nothing to do with any factual issue."
Ben-Gurion University. Photo: Courtesy
As the debate over Ben-Gurion University’s politics department continues, Meretz
head Zehava Gal-On declared on Saturday that “the Likud wants to scalp the
academia and show it off to [Likud activist] Moshe Feiglin’s camp during the
primary.”
BGU’s political science department has strongly divided the
Left and Right, as the issue has been very much politicized in the past few
weeks.
The department has been criticized for the radical left-wing
opinions of some of its faculty members, by rightwing organizations such as the
Zionist NGO Im Tirzu – which called the program “unbalanced” and “very
disturbing.”
Additionally, the Council for Higher Education appointed an
international committee, headed by Prof. Thomas Risse of the University of
Berlin, to evaluate the department last year. Following this, CHE decided to
shut down the program and not allow students to register for the 2013-2014
academic year.
BGU started a petition last month signed by faculty from
universities across the country, saying that “Israeli academic freedom is under
severe attack.”
“The Right continues to lead a destructive campaign for
Israeli academia,” Gal-On said. “Instead of embracing and protecting academic
freedom, the Minister of Education Gideon Sa’ar [of Likud]’s leadership is
undemocratic and seriously damages the international image of Israeli
academia.”
Sa’ar’s office has not responded to The Jerusalem Post’s
requests for comment.
Prof. Dan Censor, who specializes in electrical
engineering at BGU, called the comment by Gal-On “pre-election farting” and
said it has “nothing to do with any factual issue.”
“In her statement
there is no fact other than that Gideon Sa’ar is the minister of education,” he
added. “If anything, Gal-On pretends to help in putting out the fire by dousing
it with fuel.”
The CHE subcommittee is expected to meet next on October
30 and reconsider the fate of the program. Students registered for the current
school year will start their studies next week as planned.