Establishment of national offices of the American Associates-Ben Gurion University of the Negev at 342 Madison Avenue, was announced by Lawrence Phillips, president of Phillips Van Heusen Corp., who is acting chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Associates. The tax-exempt organization is serving as liaison between the American community and Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel’s newest and fastest growing institution of higher education. The university’s student body has increased from 1300 in 1969 to 3500 presently.
In making the announcement, Phillips pointed out that Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel’s only regional university, is already making major contributions to the economic growth of the Negev, which covers some 60 percent of Israel’s area, and to the progress of the people who live there. He emphasized that more than one-half of the population of the Negev consists of Sephardic Jews and recent immigrants from the Soviet Union. Phillips also noted that 25 percent of the university’s students are of Sephardic origin, and this percentage is steadily growing.
Among the leaders of the American Associates, Phillips said, are Abraham Borman of Detroit, Arnold Forster of N.Y., Joseph Meyerhoff of Baltimore, Max Ratner of Cleveland, Sam Rothberg of Peoria, III., Mr. and Mrs. Nate Shafran of Cleveland and Dr. William Wexler of Savannah, Ga. “By 1980 the university hopes to have a student body of about 10,000” Phillips said, adding, that this would involve major increases in scholarship and other aid to students.
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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.
