Feature

Spring Break Harris School Style

During this year’s March spring break, Harris School students traveled to Israel as part of a mini-course with Assistant Professor Ofer Malamud and Associate Dean for Administration Esty Gur. Now in its fourth year, the program serves as an exchange between the Harris School and Tel Aviv University.

“[Our] students get exposed to the academic aspects of discourse in Israel,” said Malamud. “But in addition I think [they] get exposed to the broader cultural and political issues that are associated with Israel.”

Over twenty students applied to the program—which included writing an essay—and four were selected. Before departing, students had required background reading on the subject to be studied—this year, civil society in Israel.

Once they arrived, the students heard from a wide variety of perspectives. Along with lectures by Tel Aviv University faculty members, students met with officials from the Knesset, the Supreme Court, and nonprofit organizations focusing on a range of issues from Israeli Arab-Jewish relations to animal rights to the environment.

A highlight of the trip was a visit to the Israeli Supreme Court and a meeting with Justice Salim Joubran, the first Arab Israeli member of the court. “It was very interesting and something that really brought out a lot of issues that are unique to Israel and relate quite closely to the issues of civil society,” said Malamud, noting minority rights and the country’s lack of a written constitution.

Despite some of the obvious differences with the United States, Malamud said, “It was extremely instructive, I think for both me and the students, to think about the parallels between civil and judicial society in the U.S. and in Israel.”

While Israeli-Palestine relations came up in many conversations, Kyle Gracey, MPP’09 appreciated the meeting with Joubran in particular because he offered a point of view focused on how the country operates rather than political tensions with Palestine. “It reminds you that they have all these other policy considerations just like we do in the U.S. absent the security concerns.”

For Gracey, who has an interest in environmental policy in the Middle East, the biggest benefit of the course was meeting Israeli students. He said, “They have their different policy issues they’re worried about, but they’re plugging along doing their research, trying to make things better, and trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t in the same way we are.”