Prof. Jacob Katz, who teaches social and educational history and leans toward Orthodoxy, was elected rector of the Hebrew University by the University Senate yesterday. His election was a surprise since humanities and natural science professors usually alternate in the post and his predecessor, Prof. Nathan Rotenstreich, is a professor of philosophy. Prof. Katz was one of a number of religious faculty members who recently signed a letter protesting the opening of the university’s swimming pool on the Sabbath.
Prof. Katz, who was born in Hungary in 1905 and came to Palestine in 1935, took a cool view of foreign students whose numbers are increasing at the Hebrew University. He told reporters that while the university must devote a great deal of energy toward integrating them, it should not be at the expense of other obligations which he defined as “education, scholarship, Israeli students and the teaching staff.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
