Clarification of the reported merger of the Hebrew University and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel was given today by Dr. Israel Wechsler, president of the American Friends of the Hebrew University, and Meyer Weisgal, chairman of the executive council of the Weizmann Institute, who is now in this country.
Dr. Wechsler emphasized in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the merger covers only joint fund-raising for both institutions. There has been no merger of the boards of governors of the two institutions, he said. Mr. Weisgal said that “the complets integration of these two institutions is not a matter that can be effected overnight” but expressed the conviction that science in Israel will greatly benefit when the Hebrew University and the Weizmann Institute eventually become completely integrated.
“It is a source of deep satisfaction to me that the University and the Institute have come to an agreement to work jointly for their needs throughout the world,” Mr. Weisgal said in his statement to the J.T.A. “I must, in the first place, express my deep gratitude to Prof. Selig Brodetsky who together with me labored closely in Jerusalem, Rehovoth and here to help bring about this common undertaking. The acceptance of Prof. Einstein as president of this joint action symbolizes the unity of this great enterprise.
“This is only the beginning,” he pointed out. “The cooperation between the University and the Institute must be strengthened and regulated and made an integral part of a systematic structure. In a country like Israel it is inconceivable that the two highest institutions of learning and science should function at separate levels. They must be knitted closely together, if not in their internal administration, certainly in their interlocking scientific progress.
“There must be an ordered policy of exchange of professorships and research followships and an interchange of university students and research personnel,” Mr. Weisgal continued. “Collaboration in laboratory projects must be widened and extended. The complete integration of these two institutions is not a matter that can be effected overnight but I am profoundly convinced that the best interests of science and learning of Israel and the Jewish people will be served when eventually these two institutions will be completely integrated.”
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