To Serve or To Dorm, that is the question

August 27, 2006 - 4:17 PM by Sarah

Imshin brings up an interesting topic for debate, inspired by this JPost article. It seems a judge recently ruled that Haifa University must stop giving those who have served in the Israeli military a leg up on getting coveted, cheap, dorm space, since so few Israeli Arabs, who are not required to serve in the army but may volunteer if they choose, actually do so.

Remember when Rory Gilmore was still in High School and she was really worried she wasn’t going to get into Harvard because she didn’t have enough community work on her CV? I didn’t think of it much at the time, but it does stand to reason that unpaid contributions to the community should be rewarded, doesn’t it?

Not according to Judge Sokol. According to Judge Sokol contributing to the community for two to three years, often putting oneself in danger’s way, being paid no more than what a straight speaking friend of mine back in the army once called “Not enough even to pay for tampons and the pill” is apparently an unfair advantage.

Mind you, in this case, the problem is apparently mainly one of economic ability to pay for alternative accomodation.

It is true, Arab Israelis are legally exempt from serving in the IDF, unlike the rest of us. This is because the State of Israel is sensitive enough to recognize that Arabs may find it morally difficult to contribute to the active defense of their country against Arab invaders. They are, however, very welcome to volunteer.

I see no reason why those Arab Israelis (or anyone else for that matter), who didn’t choose to volunteer to serve, but can provide proof of two to three years of equivalent community service shouldn’t also be allocated dorms by the same criteria as army veterans.

On the other hand, unlike their Jewish counterparts, Arab Israelis, automatically legally exempt from national service, are quite free to go and work instead for two to three years, so they can afford to pay for alternative accomodation options.

Is it written anywhere that they have to go to university at eighteen? Their Jewish peers are contributing to the community at eighteen and only get to go to university at the age of twenty one, at the earliest. If anything, the unfair advantage in this case is of those students who are automatically exempt from national service.

What do YOU think?

Share with others