Opinion

University Partnerships In Israel

L

ast November, I participated in a
trade mission to Israel organized
by Automation Alley, the technol-
ogy business association for southeast
Michigan in Troy. While government
officials and industry leaders in our
group talked to Israeli companies inter-
ested in partnerships and joint ventures
in Michigan, I met with leaders of five
universities: Tel Aviv University, Holon
Institute of Technology, ORT Braude
College of Engineering, ORT Hermelin
College of Engineering, and Technion-
Israel Institute of Technology.
Over the past few years, Lawrence
Technological University in Southfield
has built strong relationships with uni-
versities in many parts of the world,
including China and India. Based on my
previous experience, I believe these ini-
tial contacts in Israel will lead to fruitful
relationships that will benefit both sides
for many years to come.
The case of partnering with universi-
ties in Israel is particularly compelling.
It's a small country geographically, but a
giant in production output and techno-
logical innovation. In addition to helping

develop a very entrepreneurial
society, Israeli universities are
global leaders in many research
fields, including batteries and
stem cells.
There is also great poten-
tial for student and faculty
exchanges and the creation
of dual degree programs. I
learned that many Israeli
students want to study in the
United States, especially since
this country is Israel's biggest
trading partner.
We want our own students at
Lawrence Tech to become global citizens.
I hope many will take advantage of future
opportunities to spend time in a country
that has so much culture and history to
share. Israel will continue to play a piv-
otal role in the Middle East; and our stu-
dents will gain valuable insights into the
issues involved in attaining lasting peace
both in that region and around the globe.
We usually start out our partnerships
with foreign universities with student
and faculty exchanges. In some cases, we
have progressed to offering dual degrees

to students who attend both
universities. We believe this
is a two-way street that gives
foreign students access to
American education, while
offering U.S. students the
opportunity to gain a much
greater understanding of the
global economy.
Foreign students study-
ing in the United States learn
about America firsthand,
giving them a very different
picture than they typically
get through news media and
government sources in their own coun-
tries. Most of these students will come
to love the United States, becoming allies
and advocates for life. Some will rise to
leadership positions where they will be
able to promote business opportunities
and foster good long-term relationships
between their countries and the United
States.
Lawrence Tech has already been very
successful in attracting foreign students.
Forty-one countries are represented on
our campus; these foreign students make

up about 13 percent of our student body.
This diversity is a real strength for our
institution.
It's important for our students to real-
ize that most of the world is not like an
American suburb. Through its partner-
ships with universities in many other
countries, Lawrence Tech has a great
opportunity to foster better understand-
ing of other cultures and people around
the world. We encourage our students
to study in other countries. Fortunately,
exposure to different cultures can begin
right here on our campus in Southfield.
Higher education presents a great
opportunity to reduce the strife we see
today and to help the great countries on
the Earth to live in stable, safe, produc-
tive and mutually beneficial economies.
Lawrence Tech is proud to be part of that
solution. El

Lewis N. Walker has been president and CEO

of Lawrence Technological University in
Southfield since 2006. A registered profes-

sional engineer, he holds three degrees from
the University of Missouri-Columbia, including

a Ph.D. in electrical engineering.

Time For A Jewish Tea Party?

Boston/Jewish Advocate

O

n Feb. 8, the Muslim Student
Association (MSA) disrupted a
speech by Israeli Ambassador
Michael Oren at the University of
California-Irvine. It was done cleverly. A
Muslim student from the audience stood
up and began shouting during Oren's
talk. After he was removed from the hall
and the talk resumed, another Muslim
student stood up and began to shout.
This happened about a dozen times. Oren
courageously and with eloquence fin-
ished his talk.
Though the Irvine disruption was not
nearly as impressive as the 2002 Muslim
victory in Montreal when students vio-
lently prevented Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu from speaking at
Concordia University, the California inci-
dent demonstrates the growing strength
of the MSA; it also is a marker of Jewish
political decline on American campuses.
For years, the Irvine campus has wit-
nessed publicly funded anti-Israel and
anti-Semitic speakers and programs;
and, for years, the established Jewish
community has failed to respond effec-

40

March 11 • 2010

professors, but at the David
lively. At Irvine, where Jews are
Project for raising the issue.
sometimes frightened to openly
The New York Jewish estab-
identify themselves, only the
lishment tried to minimize
stalwart Zionist Organization of
the conflict and marginalize
America and the valiant grass-
the problem. They "made
roots group Stand With Us have
nice" with the administration
consistently challenged the uni-
behind closed doors, showing
versity to fulfill its responsibility
themselves to be the good, rea-
and protect the students and
sonable Jews. (We nicknamed
free speech. Hillel, the national
the film The Marranos of
Jewish campus organization,
Charles
Morningside Heights.)
created in times of peace to
Jacobs
Since 2004, the problem for
ensure that Jewish boys meet
Special
Jews on campus has only wors-
Jewish girls, staffed with warm-
Commentary
ened. The alliance between the
fuzzy Kumbaya-niks, remains in
left and the Muslim students has gelled,
denial — or worse.
while the Jews are divided and with weak
Across the country, university adminis-
trations are notoriously weak actors. While leadership. And increasingly, especially
in California, it is the radical Muslim stu-
the left and Muslim groups — supported
by radical faculty — push hard, the Jewish dents who are vigorously taking the lead
against Israel and Jews.
establishment tries to sweet-talk; and the
This campus phenomena — the growth
Jews lose.
of the Muslim factor, the Jewish establish-
In 2004, when the David Project pro-
ment's reluctance to respond forcefully to
duced a film documenting the intimida-
tion and harassment of pro-Israel students threats and the failure of public officials
by Arab professors at Columbia University to protect Jews against Muslim threats
— now mirror the situation developing
(Columbia Unbecoming), many Jews on
for Jews off campus: As mosques, funded
Columbia's faculty were upset — not at
by Saudi Arabia, and controlled by radi-
the egregious actions of Muslim or Arab

cal Muslim organizations, expand across
America — unopposed — Jewish leaders
fail to respond.
Here, too, "making nice" — through
"dialogues" and outreach programs such
as "twinning" synagogues and Islamic
centers — is the Jewish establishment's
primary response. And even when, as in
Boston and Buffalo, such naivete back-
fires and Jews find instead of sincere
and peaceful partners to shake hands
with that they have been hoodwinked
by Islamist anti-Semites, Jewish leaders
remain silent.
Meanwhile, in contrast to the Jewish
community, a significant portion of
America is in rebellion against — and is
in the process of challenging — its politi-
cal establishment. Grass-roots frustration
expressed first in raucous "town hall"
meetings and now in the Tea Party move-
ment defeated incumbent Democrats and
influenced elected officials not to run for
re-election.
Americans are angry with both parties.
Why? Former CIA official Herbert Meyer
notes that Americans were shocked by
"two catastrophes we hadn't imagined
our political establishment would allow