Tel Aviv University donors seek to oust Leora Meridor

Many donors have stopped contributing to the university and some governors are considering resignation.

16 November 09 15:45, Roy Goldenberg

Despite last month's election of Prof. Joseph Klafter as president of Tel Aviv University, the upheavals in the administration have not calmed down. Chairman of the board of governors Robert Goldberg has written to Minister of Education and chairman of the Council for Higher Education Gideon Sa'ar, and chairman of the Planning and Budgeting Committee Prof. Manuel Trachtenberg calling on them to intervene in the "chronic management problems related to the executive council."

Last month Goldberg led an attempt to oust executive council chairwoman Leora Meridor because of the way she has managed Tel Aviv University since her appointment in March 2009.

It was Meridor who herself ousted Tel Aviv University's previous president Prof. Zvi Galil and decided upon the sale of the university's investment portfolio against the recommendations of the investments committee.

Goldberg published a petition by the board of governors demanding an urgent debate in the executive council to oust Meridor over her management of the university. So far 120 people worldwide have signed the petition, many of them donors who have given millions of dollars to university.

In his letter Goldberg said that many donors have stopped contributing to the university and some members of the board of governors are considering resigning.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 16, 2009

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