III. Coping with the Crisis
The need to cope with the budgetary crisis and with the other crises it produced became the primary thrust and challenge of leading and managing the University. Before describing the fashion in which the University dealt with the crisis, it is important to address its sources. The principal source has already been described above, namely the combined impact of the capping of growth and budget cuts and its exacerbation by other aspects of the national security and economic crises (such as the loss of income from overseas students and the low yields of endowments, etc.). But there were additional factors having to do with TAU's own functioning at the time and in earlier years. I do not wish to dwell on these issues or to elaborate on other people's mistakes, but I would like to emphasize that I took and take responsibility for my own mistakes. I chose to deal with the crisis by seeking a fundamental solution, as well as by taking advantage of the fact that once a crisis breaks out, changes and reforms become feasible on a scale that is untenable in times of calm and prosperity. The process of coping went through two main stages:
