International Panel Condemns Politics Department at Ben-Gurion U.

The Israeli Council for Higher Education on Tuesday endorsed the findings of an international committee that recommends closing the department of politics and government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev if major reforms are not carried out immediately.

The committee, chaired by Thomas Risse, a professor at the Otto Surh Institute for Political Science at the Free University of Berlin, was established by the council in 2008 to evaluate the quality of departments of political science and international relations at eight of Israel’s colleges, both public and private. Over all, the committee found that despite its relatively small size, Israel is a “major intellectual contributor” in those fields. The committee did recommend some changes and urged a greater investment in the departments, particularly to reverse a “deteriorating” ratio of students to professors.

But the most critical comments were reserved for Ben-Gurion, where the committee was “concerned that the study of politics as a scientific discipline may be impeded by such strong emphasis on political activism” and found the department “weak in its core discipline of political science in terms of number of faculty, curriculum, and research.”

Individual faculty members at Ben-Gurion have in the past come under fire for their anti-establishment views. For instance, Neve Gordon, a professor of politics and government, has been repeatedly criticized by university leaders and politicians for his statements in support of a boycott of the country. More broadly, Israeli scholars have recently had to defend themselves against accusations of promoting anti-Zionist views.

The report emphasizes, however, that the Ben-Gurion department’s failings are largely academic, not political.

The committee criticizes the department’s library resources and its research record and recommends instituting “major changes toward strengthening its disciplinary and methodological core through both hiring more faculty and altering its study programs.”

“If these changes are nevertheless not implemented,” the report concluded, “the majority of the committee believes that, as a last resort, Ben-Gurion University should consider closing the Department of Politics and Government.”

One Israeli committee member, Galia Golan of the Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya, has distanced herself from the report on Ben-Gurion, saying that while she agreed with some of the criticisms, a section calling for a “balance” of views in the classroom “runs directly counter to the principle of academic freedom.”

Officials at the university have dismissed the accusations of political bias, and have said they are developing a plan to “improve the research record of the department” to be presented by the end of the 2012 academic year.

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