by sen. carole migden
Opportunities to live and study in Israel — to practice environmental conservationism on a kibbutz, to work alongside the world’s most renowned engineers at the Aeronautical Research Center in Tel Aviv, to intern in legislative offices in the Knesset — are all available to students at Harvard, Cornell and the Universities of Wisconsin and Texas, as well as a plethora of other prestigious educational institutions.
Yet 214,000 students who are enrolled in the University of California system are not afforded the same chance. Due to travel warnings by the U.S. State Department, the U.C. Board of Regents will not allow students to study in Israel.
This opportunity for outstanding educational and cultural enrichment should be afforded to our next generation of leaders in California. That is why I have introduced Senate Resolution 18, which calls on the University of California to revise its education abroad policies so that students may access education programs in countries with less severe federal travel advisories such as Israel.
I would never suggest that students put themselves in harm’s way, but at the same time we should not be intimidated or shy away from traveling to Israel. Moreover, the federal travel warning for Israel is not severe. The State Department urges U.S. citizens to remain mindful of security factors when considering travel to Israel at this time. Unlike federal travel advisories in which citizens are explicitly warned against travel to countries such as Iraq and Somalia, the State Department does not ask Americans to defer from taking trips to Israel. The University of California system should also not prevent its students from having this opportunity.
The impetus for S.R. 18 came from a conversation I had with Peter Altman, former president of the Raoul Wallenberg Jewish Democratic Club, who shared his frustration with the U.C. Regents’ decision to block students from studying in Israel. Altman put my office in touch with the Hillels operating in the U.C. system, which have been spearheading a statewide campus effort to reinstate the Israel study abroad program. The U.C. Hillels came to Sacramento with current U.C. students and asked me to carry this legislation. The Associated Students of the U.C. Berkeley and San Diego have passed resolutions similar to S.R. 18, urging the U.C.’s Education Abroad Program to revise its policies in regards to the Israel program. Students at UC Santa Barbara started an online petition at www.asiucsb.org, where they have garnered more than 700 signatures in support of the program.
Students who doggedly pursue studying abroad in Israel go through arduous and unnecessary obstacles, including officially withdrawing from the University of California if they study longer than one quarter, forfeiting any potential financial aid, jeopardizing their readmission to the university and losing credits since there is no guarantee that their courses will transfer.
The University of California is a leading global institution committed to the pursuit of knowledge, teaching discovery and academic freedom. Cutting students off from Israel only holds back this pursuit. Studying in Israel could be one of the most rewarding and enriching experiences in a college student’s academic career. Immersing oneself in Israeli culture, learning Hebrew and living among the diverse Israeli and Arab cultures is an invaluable educational experience.
It is time for the state legislature to step in and issue a directive to the U.C. system to remove all barriers to studying in Israel and to allow students to transfer U.C. financial aid and credits between U.C. and Israeli programs.
S.R. 18 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Education and should be set for a public hearing during the last week of February. Once the bill clears its first committee, the bill will go before the entire State Senate.
Please join me in the support of the resolution, and reach out to my fellow senators to let them know that you want the University of California to change its stance on studying abroad in Israel. A complete list of California state senators can be found at www.sen.ca.gov.
Sen. Carole Migden represents San Francisco, Marin and Sonoma counties in the State Senate. She one of only three Jewish state senators in California.
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California