By Rick Kardonne
Tribune Correspondent
TORONTO – York University President Lorna Marsden will be leaving for Israel on Jan.2, 2005 as part of a six-Canadian university delegation whose aim is to strengthen academic links to several Israeli universities.
She, together with the president of the University of Manitoba, will be one of two Canadian university presidents going. Other participating Canadian universities include McGill, Bishop’s, Ryerson and the University of Saskatchewan.
Accompanying Marsden in the York delegation will be Adrian Shubert, vice president of international relations; Stan Shapson, vice president of research, and York Foundation President Paul Marcus, whose credentials include being a past director of the B’nai Brith Canada Institute for International Affairs.
She said that York has traditionally maintained strong academic links to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. But the York delegation will also cement academic links with Tel Aviv University, the University of Haifa, the Technion, and with Bar-Ilan University.
The delegation will also visit one of the Palestinian Arab universities, the exact one to be chosen in the near future.
As York University has the largest fine arts program in Canada, Marsden also plans to visit such arts institutes in Israel as the Bezalel School in Jerusalem with the aim of re-establishing student and faculty exchange programs.
“We used to have an Artists in Residence program,” Marsden said. “We would like to revive this. In addition, there is a big student exchange program between York and Israeli universities, which we would like to expand. There are at least 100 York alumni now living in Israel.”
Marsden plans to visit several friends in Israel, including Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak, whom she said is a “great friend of recently retired Supreme Court of Canada Justice Peter Cory,” who has long been associated with York.
“I have been to Israel five times before,” said Marsden. “The Israel visit will resemble similar Canadian university delegations to Japan, Korea,” and several other Pacific Rim nations.
When asked about the recently elected Unity slate of the York Student Federation, which is demonstrably unfriendly to Israel and to Hillel on campus, Marsden said, “I invite and will welcome York Hillel representatives to personally speak to me about this matter.”
“I have a lot to learn and to give,” she said. She is looking forward to a warm reception in Israel and expects much to be accomplished in terms of academic cooperation between York, and the five other Canadian universities, with Israel’s academic community.
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