The California State University system officially has ended a nine-year suspension of its travel-abroad program to Israel, reinstituting the program starting in fall 2012.
For now, the program offers study only at the University of Haifa, but supporters hope to expand it to other Israeli institutions of higher learning. “This is a great beginning,” said Michael Sweet, chair of the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California, which fought to rescind the suspension along with the S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council and other groups. “They have to start somewhere.”
The University of California lifted its suspension of a similar program in 2008.
CSU’s Israel study program was suspended in 2002 due to security concerns stemming from the second intifada and a State Department warning on travel to Israel. In May, CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed announced he would lift the ban.
Last month, an open letter to Reed signed by 70 faculty members urged the chancellor to keep the ban in place, calling Israel “an apartheid regime.”
Sweet said the decision to allow CSU students to earn college credit while studying in Israel “sends a signal. One of the largest state university systems in the country is returning to Israel, and hopefully others will as well.”
Subjects offered include Hebrew and Arabic, history, Jewish studies, Middle East studies, psychology and political science. Applications to the program will be accepted through Jan. 15, 2012. More information can be found at www.calstate.edu/ip.