Five CHE members resign over Israel's gender-segregation academic law

Five members of Israel's Council for Higher Education (CHE) resigned on Monday to protest a new law expanding gender-segregated academic studies. The resigning members, including Professors Edit Tshuva, Marcelle Machluf, Jihad El-Sana, Lia Laor, and former CHE director-general Moshe Vigdor, submitted their resignations to President Isaac Herzog and Education Minister Yoav Kisch.

"Approval of the law concerning gender segregation in advanced-degree studies in academia constitutes unprecedented interference in the independence of the Council for Higher Education,"

the four joint signatories wrote, warning it could harm academic freedom, equality, and lead to the exclusion of women. Vigdor separately stated the law would "grant state legitimacy to the exclusion of women in academia." The Knesset approved the amendment to the Student Rights Law, which permits the CHE to approve separate programs for men and women, in a 52-43 vote last Thursday. Six Haredi women and ten academics have since petitioned the High Court of Justice against the law.