Dear friends and colleagues,

This coming Sunday, the first semester will end - probably the most challenging of semesters ever seen at the Hebrew University. Due to the terrible massacre on 7.10 and the war that started after it, the semester began two and a half months late and in a shortened format of 11 intensive weeks. Over 3,000 male and female students were still serving in the reserves when the semester began, and they are slowly returning to campus. As of today, over a thousand students are still recruited.

In a joint effort that included the entire university community, we built an academic, financial and emotional support system that is exceptional in its structure and scope, to help reservists and their sons and spouses, and evacuees from their homes, successfully complete the semester. This is a very big challenge, the main part of which is still ahead of us. Next week we enter a shortened and challenging exam period. I ask all lecturers to pay attention to two main issues: first, to formulate tests that reflect the limited scope of the material studied in the shortened semester. Second, to pass on to the relevant secretaries information about students who did not come to classes, and especially those who do not take the test, so that we can contact them and try to help them return to their studies. Currently, we know about a low number of students who have stopped their studies, but it is assumed that the real number is higher.

The second semester will also present us with many challenges. Many students will be re-called to reserve duty, and we will again help them in a targeted manner. Other reservists have postponed the start of their studies until the second semester, and in order to allow them to do so, we will offer a very large number of "replicated" introductory courses—courses that were given in the first semester and will be taught again in the second semester, in a variety of formats. It is imperative that we establish a personal relationship with each and every one of the reservists and the evacuees, and make sure that they have an appropriate study program, which will allow them to complete the academic year, and in the long term, their degrees, successfully.

I think we can all be proud of the way we are handling these challenges so far. The extraordinary mobilization of both senior and junior academic staff and the administrative staff to help students who were drafted into the reserves and those who were particularly affected by the war is inspiring.

Thank you! I am proud of you and the Hebrew University is proud of you.

I would also like to thank the heads of the units—the deans, heads of the schools, vice-deans, heads of the institutes and departments—who are required every day to navigate their units in turbulent waters. I would like to thank the Dean of Students Office, the Academic Administration, the Student Administration including the unit for Teaching and Policy Procedure, and the Diversity and Inclusion Unit for the impressive handling of the extraordinary challenges with flexibility and sensitivity.

We will not forget our students, and the relatives of members of our community, who were murdered or sacrificed their lives in the war. We wish a speedy recovery to all those affected, and we will continue to wish for the safe return home of Carmel Gat, a master's degree student in occupational therapy, of Sagi Dekal-Chen, son of Prof. Yonatan Dekal-Chen, and of the other abductees.

 

Yours, Tamir