Last update - 00:00 15/01/2008
University pres.: Campuses to close Sunday until crisis over
By Tamara Traubmann, Haaretz Correspondent
All Israeli universities will shut down Sunday if the Finance Ministry does not reach an agreement with the striking senior lecturers, the university presidents and heads of the university governing councils decided unanimously at an emergency meeting Tuesday.
"We cannot continue in the present situation of the ongoing strike," the presidents and governing councils decided. "Therefore it was decided that if by noon Friday no agreement is reached between the state and the academic faculty, in accordance with the compromise proposal suggested today by the university presidents committee to both sides, the universities will close starting Sunday at 8 A.M."
The decision is meant to pressure the treasury and the lecturers, who began striking 88 days ago and are in the midst of the longest university strike in Israel's history, to reach a compromise and sign an agreement.
A shutdown would mean that even the classes that were held during the strike will no longer be held as of Sunday. It would also bring research to a halt and would probably keep some 15,000 faculty members and administrative personnel from drawing a paycheck. The full ramifications of closing down the universities have yet to be determined, since nothing like this has happened in the country before.
"This is not a punishment - it's the closure of universities because there is no budget, since in this situation, there is no way to run the universities," said Prof. Moshe Kaveh, who heads the university presidents committee. "The universities will open only when the situation permits it, after a solution is reached."
The university presidents are proposing that the lecturers receive a 21 percent compensation for the erosion of their salaries since 1997, instead of the 35 percent they are demanding. According to the compromise, the compensation payments would be spread out until the end of 2009 instead of being paid immediately.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Yuli Tamir is threatening a coalition crisis in light of the failed negotiations between the Finance Ministry and the senior lecturers.
"We have a clear demand to go to a coalition crisis on this matter," said
Tamir. "I believe that a lot of pressure must be exerted in order to prevent the semester from being canceled."
In an effort to solicit support for a final battle, university administration officials contacted members of the universities' boards of governors, including some of the biggest donors to Israeli universities and to the country itself, to tell them about the crisis. The university officials were hoping the donors would pressure Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to get the Finance Ministry to be more flexible in negotiations with the lecturers.
Negotiations between the lecturers and government broke down once again yesterday. Treasury officials had been slated to present new ideas to resolve the conflict, but instead they withdrew to the position they had taken more than a week ago ¬ offering about half the amount the lecturers are willing to accept in wages, after they significantly lowered their demands.
Finance Minister Roni Bar-On said he would refuse to exceed the framework of public-sector wage agreements in order to respond to what he called the "excessive demands" of the senior lecturers.
Meanwhile, some 150 students have been taking part in a sit-in at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, since Tuesday afternoon. The students threaten to remain in the Senate building until they were assured the semester would not be canceled.
"We'll sleep here, we'll live here, we'll eat here, we'll have parties," said student union head Yonatan Green. "We'll stay here until an agreement is reached."
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