Alon Harel (Hebrew U) writes regarding the Code with the latest:
After having said that he supports the ethics code proposed by Kasher the education minister Bennet declared yesterday that the proposed code by Kasher is only a draft and he is willing to consider amendments to the code. This statement is clearly a byproduct of the immense pressure of the academic community against the code including the Presidents of the universities, the professional associations the labor unions of academics and others.
The fear now is that Bennet will push for a somewhat softer code. Most of us in Israel resist the very idea of a single code binding all institutions for several reasons.
First given the current atmosphere the code is going to be abused. The rightwing organization Im Tirzu is already sending "spies" to classes and the existence of such a code will encourage these activities.
Second codes of ethics ought to be codified in ways that fit the needs of the different institutions. In Israel, there are different institutions of high education with different traditions: some of them are religious; some have large groups of minorities; some are very politicized while others are not. It seems that a single code cannot fit the different needs of the different institutions.
Third a single code will not facilitate experimentation. If there is a serious problem, it would be desirable to test the desirability of different codes and this can be done only if there are different codes of ethics in different institutions.
Fourth and last once a centralized code is imposed (even if an ideal code), it would provide a precedent for future regulation of universities. It will change therefore the balance of power between the colleges and the universities and the central body (council of high education) that is chaired by the Minister of education. This opens the possibility for future political pressure.
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