University President against Kisch: "Does not distinguish between independence and loyalty"
Ben-Gurion University President Dani Chamovitz has launched a scathing attack on Education Minister Yoav Kisch over the new law regarding gender segregation in academia. Chamovitz argued that the minister fails to distinguish between professional independence and loyalty, while five members of the Council for Higher Education have already resigned in protest against the legislation.
The President of Ben-Gurion University, Dani Chamovitz, launched an attack against Minister of Education Yoav Kisch against the backdrop of the gender segregation law in academia, and leveled harsh criticism at him.
In a post he uploaded to the social network X, Chamovitz stated:
"He does not distinguish between independence and loyalty: whoever agrees with him is considered 'independent' in his eyes, and whoever disagrees with him is 'political'. But in a healthy public system, independence is precisely the ability to disagree with the minister when professional judgment requires it."
Just at the beginning of last week, five members of the Council for Higher Education announced their immediate resignation from the Council, in protest against the approval of the law expanding the possibility for gender segregation in higher education institutions. In a letter sent by one of the senior officials who resigned, Moshe Vigdor, to the President of the State Isaac Herzog and the Minister of Education Yoav Kisch, he wrote that the law "threatens to bring about an irreversible change" in the academic system in Israel.
The Knesset plenum approved in the second and third readings the bill allowing the existence of study tracks with gender segregation in advanced degrees at the beginning of the month. The amendment to the Student Rights Law passed with a majority of 52 in favor against 43 opposed and transfers the authority to decide to open separate tracks to the academic institutions themselves and the Council for Higher Education.
According to the text of the law that was approved, higher education institutions will be permitted to hold separate tracks for women and men in master's and doctoral studies, and the existence of these tracks for religious reasons will not be considered discrimination. The law defines that in mixed educational institutions, gender segregation will be permitted solely within the classrooms, and it is intended for students who desire it due to their religious beliefs.
