University heads resist ‘political expression’ plan

The Committee of University Heads called last Tuesday on Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who also chairs the Council for Higher Education, to drop his plan to draw up a code of ethics for political expression by academics, writes Yarden Skop for Haaretz.

It was the universities’ first response to the appointment last month of Professor Asa Kasher to devise such a code. When Haaretz first reported on the appointment, the committee refused to comment.

“A uniform code of ethics dictated by an external source will undermine freedom of expression and the proper conduct and independence of academia,” the committee said. “The code would inhibit the freedom of expression essential to academia, which is the life force of ground-breaking science and academia.”
Full report on the Haaretz site