Lecturers: Fire university presidents
A flurry of activity descends on senior faculty after Council of University Presidents appeals to National Labor Court asking it forcefully ends two-month strike
The Council of University Presidents has asked the National Labor Court to force the Treasury and striking lecturers to return to the negotiating table. If intensive negotiations fail to bring the strike to an end, the CUP requested the court issue injunctions forcing senior faculty back into the classrooms.
In wake of this latest turn of events, faculty members at some academic institutions have begun circulating petitions calling for the dismissal of their presidents.
These local initiatives have cropped up at the University of Haifa, the Technion, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
4,500 angry professors can't be wrong
Faculty Coordinating Council Chairman Professor Zvi HaCohen said that the petitions represent the individual efforts of faculty members and not the council, which represents all senior faculty.
According to HaCohen, he warned CUP that should it appeal to the court, they would find themselves with 4,500 angry professors on their hands.
"While faculty members are incapable of formally dismissing a university president, I do not see how it's possible for a president to fulfill his duties when the majority of the faculty distrusts him. He'll have no choice but to head home," he told Ynet.
Meanwhile, in a step with no precedent in the history of Hebrew University, academic faculty members from all four campuses will come together this week to listen to University President Professor Menachem Megidor explain his position on referring the issue to the court.
The general gathering was made possible only after its organizers collected the signatures of over 200 faculty members. "Our intention is to tell the president that the moment he lends his hand to issuing injunctions against academic faculty – he has lost our trust," organizer and senior lecturer Professor Yaron Ezrahi said.
Zvi Singer, Eitan Glickman and Zvi Aloush contributed to this report
