The present plight of the Hebrew University was described today at a press conference by Prof. Simcha Assaf, rector, and Dr. David Senator, administrator.
The two officials reviewed the war effort of the University’s faculty and student body, particularly the “heroic defense of the University premises against Arab attack,” Prof. Assaf said that a University medical school will be opened shortly, but will offer instruction only to advanced students.
A new legal faculty will be appointed soon, Prof. Assaf, who is also a member of the Israeli Supreme Court, announced, while the existing faculty for social and economic sciences will be enlarged and will be headed by Dr. L. Patinkin, a leading French scientist. Dr. Assaf also announced that Prof. Joseph Klauener, leading Israeli historian and scholar, will retire soon because of his age.
Voicing disappointment in the lack of funds available to the University, Dr. Senator said that the Jewish Agency had allocated only $80,000 to the institution while the Israeli Government appropriated “barely $8,000.” He added that plans are being considered to build a suburb near the University linking Mt. Scopus with Jerusalem proper. The cost of the project is estimated at $20,000,000.
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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.