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Israel Near To Its First Liberal Arts College

Just a laid-back kind of place, you know?

by
Marc Tracy
February 22, 2010

The planned Shalem College, which is to be Israel’s first liberal arts college (as opposed to university), got a major boost with a $5 million donation from Chicago’s Conduit Foundation. The purpose of the college, according to the prospective president (who also heads Jerusalem’s Shalem Center), is to provide an alternative education to the Israeli universities, which are focused on being world-class centers for research, allegedly, at times, at the expense of educating undergraduates. It will also strive to be the type of place where students can sorta just chill for four years, read some good books, make some great friends, and get into all kinds of really cool bands while enjoying New England autumns, in Israel.

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.