Avraham Oz
Tibor Egervari
egervari at UOTTAWA.CA
Wed Jan 21 14:16:31 EST 2004
Thank you Ric! We owe you a lot.
Tibor Egervari
rknowles at UOGUELPH.CA wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> Following up on Denis's message including Judith Butler's message about
> Avraham Oz, below are some responses to the issue (including, at the end, from
> Martin Orkin) that may be helpful for those of you contemplating writing.
>
> Best,
>
> Ric
>
> "Yossi Ben-
> Artzi"
> <yossiho at research.ha
> To:
> ifa.ac.il>
> cc:
> Subject: Re: Avraham
> Oz
> 01/21/04 04:44
> AM
>
> Dear colleguase,
>
> I am saddened to learn that you have been misled, and misinformed
> regarding the Avi Oz affair. Professor Avi Oz's refusal to work within
> the
> parameters of the Theatre Department has been mysteriously transformed
> into
> an issue of grand politics. In actual fact the whole issue is somewhat
> more
> mundane and sordid. It has to do with the reckless recruitment of
> friends
> and family members in violation of faculty or departmental hiring and
> budgetary procedures. Contrary to the manipulative spin disseminated
> by
> Professor Oz, this is an issue of ethics and collegial behavior and
> has
> nothing to do with ideology or freedom of speech. In fact, you may be
> interested to know that despite our vilification as enemies of
> Jewish-Arab
> coexistence, the theater department--and not some private
> latitudinal--will,
> as of January 22, launch a new production of a Hanoch Levin play in
> Arabic,
> with a cast of students and graduates, Jews and Arabs.
>
> You are invited to read the following letter of clarification
> regarding
> the chain of events leading to the exercise in victimology you may
> have
> received via email. The University of Haifa's Theater department, its
> productions, and other artistic ventures, are not a family affair but,
> instead, an important contribution to our campus community which,
> despite
> rumors to the contrary, is indeed an island of coexistence.
>
> Dear friends,
>
> In response to the queries regarding Professor Avi Oz's letter
> circulated
> on Segel Plus, I would like to offer the following clarifications:
>
> 1. During the course of the summer, The Faculty of Humanities'
> Teaching
> and Curriculum committee dedicated several meetings to the various
> didactic,
> pedagogical and administrative aspects of the Theater Department.
>
> 2. Following the testimonies of various members of the department,
> including the former departmental chair, Professor Martin Orkin, as
> well as
> Professor Avi Oz, Ms. Yitzhaki and Mr. Gazit, the committee decided
> upon the
> following:
>
> a. The committee advised the Dean to nominate an external
> departmental chairperson whose main duties would be to devise teaching
> and
> administrative procedures in accordance with the university
> pedagogical
> requirements, while preserving the department's special character.
>
> b. The committee urged the Dean to establish an external committee
> in
> order to examine:
>
> --The Department's curriculum
>
> --Teacher-student relationships
>
> --The theater production schedule and its adjustments to other
> university requirements and procedures.
>
> 3. The Dean established a committee of distinguished faculty members
> and
> one external member from Tel Aviv University's Theater Department. The
> committee commenced its deliberations at the beginning of the academic
> year
> and has conducted several exhaustive studies regarding various aspects
> of
> the theater department.
>
> 4. While the committee has yet to make its recommendations, it is
> quite
> clear that neither the university nor the Faculty of the Humanities
> ever
> established an independent "University Theater." Given the fact that
> no such
> body was ever established it stands to reason that this virtual
> enterprise
> was not, and cannot be dismantled. Of course, no one was either fired
> or
> relieved of duties from a function that formally never existed.
>
> 5. Professor Oz's curious letter contains many misstatements, to say
> the
> least. But rather than engage in some fruitless argument, I suggest
> that we
> wait until we receive the committee's finding before making hasty
> judgments,
> whether personal or otherwise.
>
> 6. The various attempts to add a political or personal "spin" to
> this
> important pedagogical issue are unfortunate and baseless. Since my
> appointment at the Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities I have been
> unstinting in the amount of time, energy, and funds, invested in this
> important program. We recognize the significant contribution of the
> department and its productions to both the university community and
> beyond.
> I trust we can all agree that the theater department and its
> theatrical
> productions are not the personal property of anyone, no matter how
> distinguished s/he may be.
>
> 7. In conclusion: Despite malicious rumors to the contrary, there
> are no
> secretive plans to discontinue the department's theatrical
> productions. We
> intend to continue these productions, with the help of the most
> distinguished directors and other professionals that the country has
> to
> offer. We intend to upgrade dramatically both the teaching aspects and
> the
> department's theatrical productions through the implementation of
> proper
> academic and artistic procedures, as well as the recruitment of
> talented
> faculty members.
>
> I trust that this brief note has defused some of the imaginative and
> imaginary false alarms regarding the future of the department and its
> personnel.
>
> 2.
>
> Dear Members of Segel-Plus
>
> While I think it would be improper for me to
> comment on
> some of the issues raised recently on Segel-Plus, which the Committee
> for
> Re-evaluation of the Department of Theatre is currently examining, I
> find it
> necessary to place the following on record:
>
> 1. During the time I served as Head of the Theatre
> Department, from October 2000 to October 2003, I found Professor Yossi
> Ben-Artzi, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities to be an untiring
> supporter of
> the Department of Theatre in all its aspects. He went far beyond his
> duty in
> his support of productions, efforts to raise funds, attempts to
> support
> development of its different programmes and in his crucial role in the
> building of a permanent home for the Creative Arts.
>
> 2. At no time in my dealings with Yossi did I find
> even
> the slightest hint of prejudice in his generous and unfaltering
> concern for
> all the students and faculty at this university. His social conscience
> was,
> amongst many other actions, evident to me in his active support for
> the
> development, within our department, of one of its programmes, the
> community
> theatre curriculum, in order to produce graduates who might serve all
> members of the Haifa community, as well as in his crucial assistance
> with
> the active raising of funds for this purpose. As a result of his
> support and
> effort we currently have students, using the tools of community
> theatre,
> working amongst Arab and Israeli communities including the aged,
> battered
> women, adolescents who have criminal records, young single women,
> street
> children.
>
> 3. Yossi Ben-Artzi has shown unfaltering support
> for all
> productions within the department. It should be noted that these
> include, as
> we know, in the second year of my tenure as head, the very important
> and
> laudable project, for the first time in the history of this
> department, of
> production of an Arab/Palestinian play. Full credit for this lies with
> the
> artistic division of the department which Professor Ben-Artzi, as
> always,
> unquestioningly supported. In the same way, he has shown only support
> for
> the current production in Arabic, the second instance of its kind,
> produced
> during the tenure of the present Head of the Theatre Department
> Professor
> Menachem Mor.
>
> 4. At no time did Yossi ever want to close down
> the
> performance dimension of the theatre department. On the contrary he
> has been
> at all times an enthusiastic proponent of the performance aspect of
> this
> department's curriculum, working tirelessly to find a more permanent
> theatre
> space for it to use. As I understand it, part of the concern of a
> Committee
> of Reevaluation of Theatre Studies - the present one established, it
> should
> be emphasized, last year - would be to include significant
> consideration
> only of how, in the context of current pedagogical and budgetary
> considerations within this particular university, the training of
> students
> in the different tools of theatre may best be pursued. This includes
> performance, which is one of the essential prerequisites for any
> Department
> of Theatre, although not the only one. To periodically examine how it
> is to
> be taught to students, is incumbent upon any university theatre
> department,
> just as any other department periodically must review its programmes.
> To do
> so in no way implies cessation of that activity or field of study,
> which in
> the case of performance, for a theatre department, would be
> unthinkable. Nor
> does it imply any proscription whatever on what kinds of
> plays/performances
> might in the future take place and in what languages.
>
> Martin Orkin
> Department of Theatre
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