BGU | PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2026

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BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV

Prof . CHAIM HAMES

RECTOR

FINAL SNIPPETS FROM THIS RECTOR’S DIARY (MARCH 2025 – MARCH 2026) April 20, 2025 Six times a year, the Senate meets to discuss and make decisions about matters on the academic agenda. The Senate is made up of representatives from every faculty who are elected by their peers for three-year terms. The Rector is elected by the Senate and chairs its meetings. On the agenda today is the continued attack on academic freedom in Israel by the government, even while the war is still going on, and the cutting of research funds in the USA which will affect our research collaborations as well. Also on the agenda is the presentation of the new Stein Faculty of Computer and Information Science that we have been working on for almost two years. This is a major endeavor and new departure for the University, and the bylaws of the new Faculty must be approved by the Senate. The debate is vigorous and some corrections are suggested for the bylaws, but the setting up of the new Faculty is approved by a large majority, including the innovative structure of a faculty with no departments, but research hubs instead. May 28, 2025 After receiving positive feedback following last year’s event, the second academic community day was held today with almost 200 participants. We started off the day studying literary texts together, followed by a TED style session, and then roundtables where researchers met and discussed their research with colleagues. The keynote lecture given by journalist Amir Tibon focused on

October 7 and its aftermath. Food and good coffee were a mainstay of the day, and we also remembered and named the hostages still in Gaza. The day ended with dessert, beer and a musical performance by The Tamari Project, a group formed in memory of Tamar Kedem Siman Tov and her family, massacred on October 7. I hope that even more faculty attend next year. June 16, 2025 In Montreal to introduce Bernard-Henri Lévy at the gala event arranged by the amazing BGU Canada team, which was extremely well attended, interesting and intellectually challenging. I took the opportunity to meet with the Provosts of McGill and Concordia. In Toronto, I spoke at an event at Beth Avraham Yoseph, one of the largest orthodox communities in Canada. While I am there, Operation Rising Lion (the twelve-day war with Iran) starts and there are no flights back to Israel. To cut a long story short, I made my way to Europe and eventually managed to get on one of the flights bringing Israelis home from Paris. As of Saturday morning, I am back home with my family. Sadly, a missile hits Soroka Hospital and causes immense damage, but no casualties, and in the last hours of the war, another missile hits a building 400m as the crow flies from my home in Beer-Sheva, killing four people. In our safe room at home, we both heard and felt the missile’s impact. October 26, 2025 For the first time in two long and very hard years, and even though the war is still going on, the academic year starts on time and as planned. We still have over a thousand