'Academia won't be dragged into Kisch's struggle for political survival'

Education minister demands university chiefs sign pledge to keep politics off campus

Yoav Kisch threatens to push bill by fellow lawmaker giving government control over college budgets if they refuse; school heads reject ‘electioneering stunt’

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 activity on campuses, and if necessary, will cancel their budgets.”

He advised university leaders that if they want to advance a political agenda, “they are invited to resign from their positions and run in the elections.”

In response, the Association of University Heads said, “We will not allow the minister to drag academia into his struggle for political survival.”

Noting that Kisch did not contact them before releasing the letter to the media, the association declared, “We will never agree to any limitation of freedom of expression and action or harm the independence of higher education.”

It said it was regrettable that “at a time when higher education is struggling with international boycotts, the minister chose to weaken it from the inside in order to garner votes in the primaries.”

Israel is to scheduled to hold national elections no later than October this year.

The Ynet outlet cited unnamed sources in the higher education system as saying that in the past few months Kisch had been trying to thwart the bill, but for unclear reasons — apparently tied to the primaries — has reversed his position.

The bill proposed by Buaron in July would give the state greater control over academic oversight and university budgets. The government would have control over the Council for Higher Education, and the education minister would have increased control over budgets, in addition to the ability to replace the members of the Council for Higher Education after the next election.

The Ministerial Legislation Committee was supposed to debate the bill in January, but didn’t amid firm opposition from Kisch, the Haaretz daily reported.