TORONTO — Michael Dan’s, left, connection to the Canadian Friends of Haifa University started with a wedding gift.
A $2-million wedding gift.
In spring of 2006, just before he got married, Dan started thinking about getting his future wife a present.
“Around that time, she had made a comment to me about how, of all the Israeli universities, she was particularly sympathetic towards the University of Haifa,” he said.
Dan decided to create a $2-million endowment fund in his wife’s name, which funds doctoral fellowships in the humanities for underprivileged students.
Since then, he has continued to support the university, and was recently appointed as the Canadian Friends of Haifa University’s new president. His official term with the organization, which helps raise funds and awareness for the University of Haifa, started last week.
Apart from his new role, Dan is the president of Gemini Power Corp., a power generation company and of Regulus Investment Inc. He’s also a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and a diplomate of the American Board of Neurological Surgeons.
Dan’s respect for the University of Haifa has to do with its policy of inclusion and diversity. Arabs make up about 20 per cent of its student population.
“It’s something I deeply believe in, the story of this university that teaches young Israelis about coexistence. About working towards higher secondary degrees [in] an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual respect,” he said.
According to Dan, North Americans don’t understand how segregated the Israeli education system is. There are about four different educational streams, Dan said, adding that Arabs and Jews are often separated through these streams.
This gets worse at the end of high school, Dan added, explaining that this is because Jews enter the military and Arabs don’t.
“By the time university comes around, you have age differences between Jews and Arabs. You have a difference in military experience,” he said.
“The University of Haifa brings all these people together from diverse backgrounds who, for the first times in their lives, are interacting with each other and learning with each other. I think that’s amazing.”
As president of the Canadian Friends of Haifa University, Dan would like to see the group’s board of governors reflect the university’s diversity. His goal is for 20 per cent of the board to be made up of Arabs.
“We have a wonderfully diverse Arab population in Canada… they’re not very well represented at traditionally Jewish functions,” he said. “We have one [Arab] woman on our board, and I think we need more.”
Karen Mock, who will run as the Liberal candidate in Thornhill riding in the next federal election, stepped down as president of the Canadian Friends of Haifa University after a term of one year.
“I felt it would just be wonderful to have Michael [as president]… I was just thrilled to be able to put Michael’s name forward because of his commitment and his dedication to the university,” she said. “I think that… [he’ll] set a wonderful tone for moving forward and strengthening the Canadian Friends of Haifa University and garnering more support in Canada.”
