Hebrew University Budget Reduced, Says Dr. Magnes; 2,000 Students a Possibility

Dr. Judah L. Magnes, Chancellor of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and former rabbi of Temple Emanuel, New York, is now en route to Europe from Palestine to participate in conferences concerning the activities of the university during the next academic year, the American Friends of the Hebrew University. announced yesterday. Before leaving Jerusalem, Dr. Magnes gave out information concerning the financial condition and activities of the university during the last year.

Although the university, he said, has a student body of not more than 200 young men and women, and an academic and scientific staff of about sixty members, it has done vitally useful research work, improving the health conditions of Palestine.

BUDGET CUT MONTHLY

“At the end of the academic year 1928-29,” stated Dr. Magnes, “the university budget was over 50,000 pounds, and at the meeting of the board of governors held in Zurich, Switzerland, in August, 1929, a budget of over 70,000 pounds was authorized. Since that time the budget of the university has been reduced, one might say, from month to month. The budget for the current year is between 37,000 and 38,000 pounds and we are now in doubt as to how much of this amount we shall secure.”

Dr. Magnes noted that the university could do a great deal to accommodate students from Germany and other parts of the world. The whole question is entirely a matter of more funds, he indicated.

“With funds that are not at all beyond the power of even an impoverished Jewry throughout the world,” he said, “I am convinced that a university with from 1,000 to 2,000 students is a possibility within the near future.