Student associations at Israeli universities and colleges have planned a nationwide strike over budget cuts. The students are demanding that about $225 million in cuts to higher education over the past few years be reversed and that the government back off its intention to raise tuition. The strike was to begin Tuesday; students said they were preparing for a lengthy fight. The strike will affect 250,000 students. According to the student associations, the planned strike has been coordinated with the lecturer associations and has the support of senior and junior faculty. The Tel Aviv University Students’ Union announced that it will allow students to enter the campus in order to hand in papers and have access to the libraries. Classrooms, lecture halls and laboratories will all be locked and inaccessible in coordination with the faculty union. Boaz Toporovsky, the chairman of that union, said on Sunday in Ha’aretz that the strike is “the last line of defense for the students of Israel and the future of higher education and research, which is deteriorating as the best minds of our country flee.”
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