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October 29, 2004/Cheshvan 14 5765, Vol. 57, No. 9
Coalition, students push for study in Israel
MICHAEL MIKLOFSKY
Staff Writer
RACHEL POMERANCE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
When Jarred Elias, a communications senior at Arizona State University, applied to the school's International Programs Office in August to study abroad in Israel, he learned that ASU does not offer credit for study in Israel.
Students wishing to study at an Israeli university must go on their own, apply to receive transfer credit, and reregister as ASU students.
Citing the U.S. State Department travel advisory to Israel, ASU - like the majority of U.S. colleges - has suspended its programs in Israel. Most universities do approve transfer credits.
"If I'm not going to get a full semester's credit ... then it's going to just be a waste of time, like losing a semester of school," Elias said. "I don't know how much credit they're going to accept if it's not done through the International Programs Office."
Working to overcome institutional hurdles of studying in Israel is the latest element of American Jewish organizations' pro-Israel advocacy work on campus amid the Palestinian intifada. Current restrictions have dealt a blow to the Jewish and Zionist identity that a trip to Israel can fuel.
The University of Florida has also restricted student travel to the Jewish state.
"We're really losing one of our greatest assets on campus, which is students who have a really in-depth knowledge of and connection to first-hand experience in Israel," said Lisa Eisen, chairwoman of the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) at the University of Florida, a coordinating body of 26 Jewish groups.
Jewish students who have spent time in Israel "are our best advocates," she said.
Stuart Fern, a computer information systems senior at ASU, has been to Israel and works as a student liaison with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Fern helps to promote one of the main objectives for campus delegates, "to try and get campuses across the country to change (how they deal with) the State Department warning," he said.
He also said that studying abroad expands the value of higher education, and that students may choose Hebrew University for its excellent academic reputation.
The ICC in September launched "Let Our Students Go!" a national campaign to call attention to the issue. It is urging its member groups to work with university administrators, alumni and community leaders to remove barriers for those who want to study in Israel.
Considering the fact that Israelis produce more academic papers per capita than any other country, "to exclude firsthand personal experiences learning of the history of Western civilization where it actually occurred is criminal," said Wayne Firestone, director of the ICC and Hillel's Center for Israel Affairs at the University of Florida.
The campaign comes as the Jewish Agency for Israel, also an ICC member, is spearheading a major effort to provide more funding to Israel study programs. By granting subsidies to students on the basis of need, the Jewish Agency, in partnership with the Israeli government, aims to halve the cost of Israel study programs to encourage young Jews to study there.
The Israeli government is slated to give $10 million this year to groups around the world that bring 18- to 26-year-old Jews to Israel on educational programs of at least five months.
Every year, the Israeli government will increase its contribution by $10 million, with a matching grant from sources assembled by the Jewish Agency.
The violence of the Palestinian intifada has turned many students, and their parents, against study in Israel. But university policies that discourage study in Israel also have had a substantial effect.
Amy Sugin, director of the office of academic affairs for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Rothberg International School notes that the decline in enrollment since the intifada began has begun to reverse.
For example, 381 American students enrolled in Hebrew University this summer and fall. That's 35 percent below pre-intifada levels, but a 36 percent increase from last year and a 100 percent jump from the year before.
The upswing is due to the fact that terrorist incidents have decreased, Sugin said, but also because several rounds of students that have studied in Israel during the intifada have returned to their home campuses having had positive experiences.
The increased demand to study in Israel is prompting administrations to revisit their policies, Sugin said, making this a "pivotal time" in student activism on the issue.
For universities that have put in place obstacles to Israel study, it mainly comes down to liability and the perception of insecurity in Israel, the ICC's Eisen said. "We do not believe, for the most part, that this is anti-Israel animus."
While no one would deny that there has been terrorism in Israel, Eisen said, "I think students who actively want to go to Israel and who go with their eyes open should be enabled that opportunity."
Rabbi Barton Lee, executive director of the Hillel Jewish Student Center at ASU, said, "I'm sure that there will be one or two students who would like to go and stay registered at ASU and all of those things, and certainly that's the case throughout the country.
"As long as this rather biased and unpleasant state department warning is (in effect) - they will not sort of reinstitute the program of years gone by," he added.
William Davey, ASU's International Programs Office director, said that he will work with students and the university to facilitate the transfer of credit for those students who wish to study on their own.
To help such students, the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix has been giving scholarships to students for the past three years, said Eitan Ben-Ami, director and shaliach of the Israel Center of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix.
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