Israeli University Students Strike for Affordable Tuition

littlerose — Fri, 18 May 2007 01:06:23 EDT

When word started to circulate last fall that the Israeli parliament (Knesset) was interested in passing legislation to raise university tuition, Israeli university students didn't take it lying down. The proposed increases would have raised tuition from about 9,000 NIS (around $2,250) per year to about 15,000 NIS (around $3,750) per year--an increase that would make it impossible for most young Israelis to pursue higher education or face the choice to plunge themselves into overwhelming debt.

Where have we heard this before?

Before you dismiss the tuition as too low to matter anyway, take this into account: most Israeli university students begin university studies after their army service, and while many return to live at home with their parents, they are older than American university students and typically pay for all or most of their tuition themselves.

So what did the students do about this attack on access to higher education?

They organized. It began as coordinated hour-long and one-day strikes and rallies across the country, with efforts intensifying as talk of the tuition increase grew in immediacy. And for over a month now, all students at all Israeli universities have been on full-time strike.

Despite threats of academic repercussions from university administration and the arrests of several student protesters, the students have remained vigilant. Yesterday, the students rejected a compromise deal negotiated between the student union leadership and the office of the Prime Minister because it not only didn't represent promises made verbally in the negotiations, but because the students didn't feel it did enough to improve and protect access to higher education.

Haaretz reports:

"We went to the negotiations with our known demands: restoring budgets, the right to veto the recommendations of the Shochat Committee [calling for higher tuition fees] and restoring the Winograd framework for lowering tuition fees," said Itai Barda, the head of the student union.

According to the students, their negotiations with officials such as Oved Yehezkel, representing the prime minister, resulted in an agreement to restore about NIS 1 billion cut from higher education budgets since 2000, and this would not be linked to the reforms proposed by the Shochat Committee.

The Israel Students Union, which represents some of the colleges, has also decided to reject the latest offer. A similar proposal was made to the students of the teaching colleges.

The National Students Union has not yet announced a decision on the prime minister's offer. It has said, however, that the strike would continue as would the "struggle for rescuing higher education ... until its goals are achieved."

The Prime Minister's Bureau did not comment on the situation.

This is incredible to an American student audience. Could you imagine a nationwide strike of all university students until there was legislation passed that would increase the budget for professors and programs and cut tuition? And keep in mind-this is over a tuition increase to just $3,750 per YEAR--a miniscule sum compared to the average cost of college in the US, even taking into account the difference in average family income. Israeli students believe that access to higher education should be a basic right provided by the government, just like basic healthcare (there is universal healthcare in Israel) and national security.

What's even more impressive is that this isn't just a pocket-protecting move on behalf of the students. Another deal was offered early on to raise tuition only for students entering in the next academic year--and it was immediately dismissed and rejected by the students. Their aim truly is comprehensive support and access to higher education for all.

Unsurprisingly, this has gotten very very little coverage in the English-language media: even Israeli publications exclude this story from their English-language editions. I, for one, am extremely proud of my Israeli student friends. All of us concerned with student involvement in the fight for access to higher education should express our solidarity with their strike--and do so loudly.

Hampshireland

Israeli University Students Strike for Affordable Tuition