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October 8, 2010
Israeli inaugurates program
UBC and Hebrew U have begun an exchange of legal experts.
MICHELLE DODEK
As young men, Allen Zysblat, professor of law at Hebrew University (HU), and Bruce Cohen, today a B.C. Supreme Court justice, attended law school together at the University of British Columbia. A number of years later, Cohen approached Zysblat with the proposal to organize a professor exchange between HU and UBC, and the longtime friends started the ball rolling. Working with the Vancouver chapter of Canadian Friends of Hebrew University (CFHU) and a committee of local lawyers, a memorandum of understanding was signed in June 2010 and a new program was born.
Zysblat told the Independent that there are two major objectives for this program. The first is to strengthen ties between the two institutions. The second is to expose UBC students to respected Israeli academics. The exchange works because the academic year in Israel does not entirely overlap with academic semesters at UBC. Therefore, an Israeli professor can teach a course here starting in September and return to begin teaching Israeli law students when the HU session starts after the High Holidays, generally in October. Similarly, a UBC professor can wrap up the year in April and teach until the end of the Israeli academic year in June. Students at each university receive two credits for taking a 30-hour course in comparative law.
Dr. Tomer Broude is the professor who was chosen to initiate this exchange. Broude earned his MA and PhD at the University of Toronto and is a renowned expert on international trade law. A ninth-generation Israeli, Broude has flawless English, which he owes to time spent in Canada as a child, when his father, a nuclear physicist, worked on the nuclear reactors at Chalk River. Broude also has spent time in Vancouver and said he loves the Pacific Northwest and was thrilled with this opportunity.
“It is unusual and wonderful for a community to think of an academic exchange because usually universities take care of it. My only regret is that I don’t have more time here.”
Broude is presenting a course entitled Dispute Settlement in the World Trade Organization. The class is an advanced, restricted seminar with students who do not necessarily have a connection to Israel. Although the course deals with legal trade disputes, there are a huge number of cultural, economic and social issues that are covered because of the impact that trade systems have on other parts of life. Broude has an interest in human rights law as well, as the new director for HU’s Minerva Centre for Human Rights, with a mission to fight against hate and bigotry, to promote tolerance and advance multicultural issues in Israel. Minerva does approach issues to do with the conflict in the Middle East, but it also covers social issues in Israel, like immigration and labor rights.
Along with his teaching commitments at UBC, Broude has done some other speaking.
He spoke to a group of local lawyers at a luncheon hosted by CFHU at the Vancouver Club last month about the implications of three international trade cases currently before various bodies that involve both Israel and the Palestinians. The lunch inaugurated the professor exchange program with Dr. Mary Anne Bobinski, the dean of UBC’s faculty of law, bringing regards on behalf of UBC. She praised CFHU for initiating the program.
“This type of faculty exchange is extraordinarily important for UBC. Graduates gain wisdom and a global perspective and faculty form links with one of the world’s leading law faculties,” she said. “This exchange has garnered the highest level of interest from faculty I have ever seen for an exchange. More than 20 percent of my faculty has expressed interest in going to Hebrew University.” She and her counterparts at HU feel there are many areas of common interest between professors from Israel and Canada which will be explored in future exchanges, she added.
Dina Wachtel, executive director of CFHU in Western Canada, reiterated the general enthusiasm for the program. “There is such excitement around this project. We have the potential to continue this long term if we can identify sponsorship. It is a fantastic opportunity for individuals or law firms to have this program bear their name and to be part of this amazing intellectual exchange.”
Michelle Dodek is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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