The situation of the international community: seeking solutions to common problems

 This academic year started in such exceptional manner: the war, the constant protests and alerts made our way through our research tougher than usual. 

Therefore, we were wondering what's the vibe in the International community, what are the needs and what changed in respect with last year.

Here we have some news to share:

A survey among the community members

We asked  several questions to the members in order to see how they live and experience Tel Aviv and TAU in  this period.  Now we share the answers of a tiny slice of our population (17 people out of almost 400), in the hope they will trigger some ideas or thoughts of concern.

The war echo is still in the background of our minds. 

Although the majority of the people seem to be very little affected about this situation, there is still a relevant percentage (35%) who is still seriously worried and uncomfortable. 

I take advantage of this moment to wish everyone the best and to show my support. Also, it is a call to try to be empathetic to our International peers.

 

What are people concerned about?

We then asked about the most important concern people are experiencing now, and we had a bunch of answers such as:

• Finding an apartment in Tel Aviv is hard, frustrating, tiresome and lengthy, whereas the Broshim waiting list is uncertain and it takes long time to enter the dorms' apartments.
• The salaries/Scholarships are not adequate for renting in Tel Aviv.
• In Broshim dorms, there are some things that are dysfunctional, from personal behaviors of the tenant (unacceptable smocking behavior, noises, laundry turns and noise at night) to systematic issues that concern the whole complex, such as the maintenance,  the lack of social shared places other than the study rooms, and the excessive going off of the fire alarms. Also, the price of the laundry increased from 10 shekels to 12 shekels, while the service and the maintenance of the machines are the same. 
• The personal safety and protection. Still, we have some people who don't feel completely comfortable here and they are worried about any possible terror attack or unpredictable turn of the situation.
• Social issues: feeling lonely, having trouble with interfacing with TAU structures and facilities due to the language barrier, frustration with bureaucracy (even just to have access to the gates!), hard relationship with PIs.

As reported before, most of the people feel like that they have "just enough" money to survive and that they can afford something more at times. Another big percentage feels their income is even lower than the "survival mode".

As I remind, SEGEL raised this concern last year to the TAU administration. It kept on struggling with the demand of increasing the Scholars' scholarships according to the CPI (Consumer Price Index), as the university agreed to do some years ago.

The problem is that recently (at least in the last 2 years) the CPI, the inflation and the cost of life went very high and the university did not maintain the promise to adjust the scholarships. SEGEL then started a campaign to demand that, and in February 2023 it got the TAU Administration to raise the scholarship 5% for the PhDs and Masters, 10% for the Postdocs. This relevant success, unfortunately, did not solve completely the problems, and therefore the campaign is still ongoing now, in 2024. Also this year the university does not seem to be willing to readjust the scholarships to the cost of life (which is increasing also because of the war).

The "Broshim problem"

In these series of questions, we figured out what people are experiencing in the dorms, which ones are the problems, and what can be a suitable solution.

Last year, a group of Israeli students, in collaboration with the student union, tried to reach out for demanding better living conditions in the dorms. Many problems were raised and a Tenants' committee was formed to supervise the situation and strategize a way to interact with Broshim administration, by using the connection that the student union has with TAU, which is the ultimate client of Shikun and Binui. These guys involved also the International community, which had a relevant contribution by that time. All together, we went through the contract and we highlighted the things that need to be adjusted, changed or smoothed.

Unfortunately, in between the weak interest, the war and other contingent factors, the thing did not go through, meaning that the message was sent out, but an official response never came. Rather, some improvements in the management in Broshim occurred, but without any officiality.

At this point, knowing that the problems (the same we already collected and investigated last year) persist, we asked what we can do:

• The majority of the respondents would like to 
• address the problem as "International community" rather than "the pool of tenants" in Broshim, meaning that at this point initiatives should be taken without waiting for the Israeli counterpart to assemble and re-organize another campaign.
• A letter to the Broshim Management could be sent, with the support of the International office
• 
  

The workplace

The majority of the people interviewed claims to be quite happy with their working environment. Other than some individual, rare problems, the vibe is very positive!

We remind you that if you are experiencing any problem on the workplace, SEGEL is here for you! You are not alone and you are legally represented and assisted!

Not everyone knows SEGEL

As you can see from the graph, may of us don't know that SEGEL exists! SEGEL - also known as The Teaching and Research Faculty Organization - is the biggest University labor union in Israel. 

From the website

The organization of the teaching and research faculty at Tel Aviv University was established with the aim of representing young researchers, practitioners, as well as lecturers without tenure. This is in order to ensure fair teaching and research conditions (as well as benefit from collective insurance and consumer power).

The organization includes male and female fellows, as well as teaching staff at the university who do not have a senior position: teaching assistant (master's and bachelor's degree students), assistant and instructor (doctoral students), teaching associate, teacher from abroad, as well as faculty in the track the equivalent The organization represents these populations and has signed collective agreements regarding them.

The series of services SEGEL offers are in this LINK (English).

One of the biggest struggles SEGEL is doing, as reported above, is the demand to adjust the scholarships to the cost of life every academic year, but not only! As you can see from the description, any legal problem related to your working position can be discussed and handled by the organization, which represents all of the (junior) researchers in TAU. Controversially, TAU does not fully recognize SEGEL as post-doc representative, since it claims that post-docs are not either students nor employees. Nevertheless, we are all welcome to get in touch with SEGEL.

In the last assembly, we discussed again the financial situation of the scholars, and among many ideas, it was proposed to create social media contents (post, video or pictures) to attract the attention of the general audience on the working/research conditions in TAU. 

We asked the respondent to the survey their opinion and there is much positivity about this initiative. The majority of the people thinks that the researchers in general will participate and will be willing to share their stories as testimonials. 

Social media today are a powerful way to influence actions and way of thinking. Pressuring TAU administration by using these tools is a promising way to make our demands stronger.

Sociality and initiatives in TAU

Last, but not least, we asked people what they think about the social environment in TAU. Not surprisingly, their opinion is quite low. This situation was reported even before the war. Now, in this situation, things are even harder and problematic, since there is no longer the freedom of traveling as it was before. 

Don't get me wrong. One can do almost everything in Israel, especially in Tel Aviv. Regrettably, when it comes to law, big institutions and big responsibility, there are many risks to be taken into account. This explains the lower number of trips and occasions in this context. 

On the other hand, it is remarkable to see that the International community is looking for something more, since loneliness and other uncomfortable feelings still haunt us. In fact, the majority of people think that our social needs as researchers and older scholars are not met.

With the well-appreciated relocation of the Lowy International School in the Green House building (next to Broshim), we are hoping to see more events and occasions for mingling and have fun.

Any idea, comment, initiative are welcome, as long as the criticism is positive and the manners are kind!