The Planning and Budgeting in the Council for Higher Education must hold a new vote by this Thursday on whether or not Ariel University should establish a medical school, deputy attorneys general Dina Zilber and Raz Nizri say.
In July 2018, the CHE's Planning and Budgeting Committee voted in favor of the university's request to open a medical school. In August 2018, Ariel University held a celebration in honor of the decision and announced that the first medical class would begin its studies in October 2019.
But in December 2018, it was reported that Dr. Rivka Wadmany-Shauman voted in favor of the university's request despite an apparent conflict of interest. Wadmany-Shauman was reportedly a candidate for a teaching position that would have promoted her to the rank of professor.
CHE guidelines state that committee members are barred from voting on issues involving institutes in which they are employed or involved, to avoid conflicts of interest.
Zilber and Nizri sent a letter to the CHE which read: "The attorney general has reached the conclusion that Dr. Wadmany-Shauman is someone who should have avoided dealing with issues that directly affect Ariel University."
There is some doubt about whether Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who also serves as chairman of the CHE, can secure the majority needed to approve a medical school at Ariel University if the matter is reopened for discussion.
Bennett said in response to the demand for a new committee meeting on the proposed medical school that "The entire way, they have been trying to throw a wrench in the works of establishing a medical school [at Ariel], out of petty political considerations."
"We won't give up. It is the right thing for Israel," Bennett said.
Ariel University declared in a statement that "the medical school will open as scheduled. We are convinced that the relevant officials will help complete the preparations ahead of the next academic year."
The Council of Higher Education said that the Planning and Budgeting Committee would act according to the attorney general's instructions.
Ariel University was founded in 1982 as the Ariel University Center of Samaria, a satellite of Bar-Ilan University. In 2004, it became an independent public college, and in 2012, it received full university status, a decision that sparked controversy because of its location over the Green Line.
A 2013 ruling by the High Court of Justice upheld its university status.
About 4,000 students currently study medicine at Israel's five medical schools: the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, and Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee.
