Expulsion of the head of the Senate EHU can result in strike and layoff of lecturers

photo ru.delfi.lt

Current and former university lecturers talk about the nature of the old war and its new maneuvers.

Conflict in EHU is growing fast. The university employees demand to reinstate in a job Pavel Tserashkovich, the head of the Senate EHU who was dismissed on February 5. The teachers and university staff have written a letter in support of the dismissed head of the Senate. The academics are going to announce a strike and refuse from working if their demand is unfulfilled.

There was a conflict between the Senate and the administration of the EHU due to reform of the professional and teaching staff. The teachers are actively opposing the actions of the university’s governing body.

Threat to the administration

At the request of the “EuroBelarus” Information Service Olga Shparaga, Vice President of the EHU Senate, philosopher and an editor of the online magazine “New Europe”, commented on the  suppression of academic freedom at the university and the confrontation between the Senate and the rector Anatoly Mikhailov.

- The university administration has not yet explained the reasons for the dismissal of Pavel Tserashkovich, - says Olga. – I think this dismissal bears a political character. Tserashkovich was dismissed from the position of a head of the Senate because the Senate has not supported the administration’s decisions during the year. All this is directly connected with a much more prolonged and profound issue – the reform of the teaching staff of EHU.

In November 2013 a new EHU Senate was elected when 80 per cent of the teaching staff voted for it. According to Olga’s opinion, the weight of the new Senate combined with the personality of Tserashkovich has posed a threat to the administration.

- By the dismissal of the chairman the administration is trying to get rid of the “threat”, of the academic community as it is, of its self-government and consequently question the efficiency of the Senate, - thinks Shparaga. – First Tserashkovich was denied a contract extension for the next academic year, and the other day they broke off labor relations with him before the expiration of the contract without any explanation. He is no longer a lecturer at EHU. It is a violation of the labor legislation, as the trade union noted in its statement.

The rector’s resignation and the vice rectors no-confidence vote

On February, 6 the Senate met in an unscheduled meeting and adopted three declarations: it announced a no-confidence vote to two vice rectors of the university; asked Anatoly Mikhalov to resign and made a speech in support of Pavel Tserashkovich.

According to Olga Shparaga, the open letter against the dismissal of Tserashkovich is enough to be a warning strike.

- The academic community of Belarus should be as much as possible informed about the recent events in EHU, - emphasizes the member of the Senate. – But if the administration does not want to take Tserashkovich back, we are ready for decisive actions. Although Darius Udrius, Vice President for Development and Communications at EHU warned us that if a strike begins, we will be fired.

Now even students collect signatures in support of the head of the Senate. So far about 300 signatures have been collected.

The protest action against radical measures of the EHU administration is only gaining its strength, says Olga.

- It is only a preliminary phase, we need some time, we are waiting for the reaction of the academic community, - explains Shparaga. – We also hope for the support of Belarusan civil society as we are standing up primarily for a Belarusan university.

The professors of EHU found themselves in a situation where the administration does not consider their opinion, thinks Olga.

- All this results in dismissals, the EHU administration has taken a radical position towards us, - concludes Shparaga. – And being active members of the Senate, we  fear to be fired.

A touch of Lithuania in EHU

Ales Lahvinets, a political analyst is also concerned about the situation of teachers’ rights at EHU.  As his comment to it he suggested that “EuroBelarus” Information Service post the statement of the “For Freedom” movement in support of Tserashkovich (which is currently available on the website of the organization).

- I was one of those who drafted this statement, we posted it on Thursday, February 6, - says Ales. – The situation at EHU is very complicated and it is not clear where it will lead.

EHU is becoming less and less Belarusan university, but more and more a Lithuanian one, - thinks Uladzimir Dunaeu, a former Vice Rector of the university. He accounts it for the administration strategy.

As far back as a year ago the dismissed Tserashkovich noted the tendency towards increasing the number of Lithuanian citizens in the administration of EHU. On the one hand, it is easier for permanent residents of Vilnius to work here, but on the other hand, they influence the content of the educational process. According to Tserashkovich, his urgent dismissal on February, 5 could have been caused by the donor conference appointed on February, 18 which he was supposed to take part in.

Does the disloyal Senate stand before a total cleaning?

Tatsiana Vadalazhskaja, the Curator of the Flying University, used to work at the Department of Political Science Analysis of EHU about three years and she is familiar with the character of the prolonged conflict inside the university. She was one of the five political scientists who left the university in 2009.

Tatsiana Vadalazhskaja calls the dismissal of Tserashkovich a logical development of long-standing contradictions that had sharpened a few months ago.

- This conflict is a clash of values and academic freedom within one social project aimed at the Belarusan intellectual space and the administrations of the educational commercial project at the level of Lithuanian average universities.

Tatyana is sure that the dismissal is not yet a “full stop”; it is a “subtle comma” in this conflict.

- They cannot stop at this point; the escalation will demand some solutions. The administration will either dismiss all professors who are disloyal to the administration policy or – which I hope for, though strongly doubt in – the situation will reverse and Mikhailov will have to resign. Reforms are impossible without his consent. But judging by the recent events there is no chance of consent.

Vadalazhskaja supports the possible strike of the Senate members, though she thinks that they should have acted earlier and harder. According to her, even the return of Tserashkovich will not resolve the overall problem of EHU.

- The dismissal of Tserashkovich is only a symptom of the disease, - considers Tatyana.

Reference of the EuroBelarus

EHU is the only Belarusan university that is included into the Bologna process. This means that the educational process at EHU is carried out in accordance with standards of the European Higher Education Area. EHU graduates receive diplomas recognized throughout Europe.

The Senate is a body of self-government that provides the quality of education and research. Until recently the head of the Senate was Professor Pavel Tserashkovich.