Uri Bibi and Ruthie Eitan, professors at Sapir College outside Sderot, listen to comments and questions from Rutgers University students following a Feb. 13 presentation. Photo by Debra Rubin
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Budding relationshipFebruary 21, 2008
Two professors from a college in Israel’s northern Negev told a New Jersey audience about the toll of the unending barrage of missile attacks from Gaza.
Speaking at Rutgers University in Piscataway Feb. 13, they described students trying to continue a normal academic life despite having to scramble at a moment’s notice from classrooms and campus to shelters as sirens go off.
“My students don’t want to learn in such an environment,” said Dr. Uri Bibi, chair of Sapir College’s department of human resource management.
Bibi said he has seen students left shaken and traumatized after rocket attacks, but they have no choice but to carry on. Even when a Kassam missile falls during a test, students leave and then return to finish their exam despite the loss of precious minutes.
“I cannot give them any more time because I only have the classrooms” for a set period, said Bibi. “I won’t take down my academic standards.”
Bibi and Dr. Ruthie Eitan, head of the college’s overseas program, visited Rutgers’ Livingston campus as guests of the Rutgers School of Social Work and the Israeli consulate in New York. The two are in the country to attend a conference at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa.
Since the Hamas-led government was elected in Gaza in the summer of 2005, 2,400 missiles have hit Sderot and the surrounding area, including Sapir’s Ashkelon campus.
As a result, the campus has been forced to put “most of our budget into concrete” to shore up its facilities, said Bibi, noting that the only program that has been expanded in recent years has been student psychological services.
At various times the Israel Defense Forces have declared a significant portion of the school’s lecture halls and classrooms off-limits to students and faculty.
‘Reason to live’
For many reasons, the school has resisted suggestions that it close. “Sapir is the largest employer in the region,” said Bibi. “To close would mean economic disaster for the region.”
He said during the reign of terror the school has lost a portion of its student body, yet there seems to be a lack of interest among many Israelis. “We really feel disconnected from the rest of Israel,” Bibi said. “We feel they don’t understand what’s going on. We really feel they think we’re over there and not part of their concern.”
Eitan too spoke of a feeling of isolation.
“People in the rest of Israel don’t look at us as heroes,” she said. “They look at us like aliens. Our faculty sacrifices themselves to be in a war zone…. Our students come and they do so willingly even though their parents are calling us always to close. They come even though they know they are taking their life in their hands.”
As for halting the violence, the two professors offered an academic solution: providing Palestinians with a 21st-century education. Eitan said she hoped a pilot program could be undertaken with “friendly” Arab countries such as Jordan or Egypt to educate young Palestinians.
“People with a future have a reason to live,” she said. “You would think in 2008 with globalization, we would stop fighting a 19th-century war.”
Bibi said he has professors willing to teach Palestinians, but logistics remain an issue. Courses via the Internet are a possibility, but student testing remains problematic.
Jeff Feldman of Somerset said he found Bibi’s presentation of what individual students must endure “heartbreaking.”
He said he was especially struck when Bibi described the dash to bomb shelters.
“It really pulls at your emotions,” Feldman said.
Budding relationship
THE VISIT by two Sapir College professors to Rutgers University last week grew out of a budding relationship between Rutgers and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Students and faculty members have taken part in exchange programs and are planning joint research and education projects.
Richard L. Edwards, dean of Rutgers’ School of Social Work, announced during the program that Rutgers would provide funding for two years for the school’s Center on Violence Against Women and Children to form a partnership with Maslan, the rape crisis center in Beersheva.
Earlier in the day, the two professors, who were accompanied by representatives from the Israeli consulate, had breakfast with students at Rutgers Hillel. The professors discussed forming a collaboration with Sapir’s newly instituted Hillel, according to Rabbi Esther Reed, associate director for Jewish campus life.
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