Calm Before the Storm?

"We consider it our duty to raise our voices against the political pressure to which the Universities of Serbia are subject today. With the harmful and substantially illegal realization of the new University Law at certain schools of Belgrade University, elementary values and freedoms are being repealed. The Law brought to an end the University's autonomy, and its application in practice caused the expulsion of many eminent professors, the destruction of traditional forms of university organization, the under-estimation of our scientific and academic heritage, the use of physical power to prevent further teaching, and finally, a pre-conceived policy based on discord among people and institutions. In the name of bare political pragmatism, the University is deprived of operating freely in accordance with the scientific thought and autonomous choice of its teachers. That process is now in an immeasurable contradiction with the European cultural heritage, as well as our own, and will have the most severe consequences in the future of Serbian society and the country itself."

This public appeal was adopted last week by the newly founded Academic Council of the School of Philosophy in Belgrade. The professor of Logic at the department of Philosophy, Dr. Aleksandar Kron, one of a group of around seventy teachers of that school who have not signed the new work agreement, was, by secret ballot, elected the presiding officer. The dean, Mihailo Vojvodic, subsequently submitted to the Council a report of his four-months-long mandate, emphasizing that the Statute was made in such a way as to enable harmony between the tradition and spirit of the School of Philosophy, and the new law: "Members of the Academic Council remain constant in their number. Without support of the collective it is hardly possible to operate.", said the dean. This School was offered a more 'delicate' alternative version of the contract, but nevertheless, a great number of teachers refused to put their signatures on this paper. The dean's comment was somewhat unexpected: "Both those who have signed and those who have not, are right. I cannot say which direction shall be chosen for sorting out these matters, neither for those who did not sign, nor for me personally. We shall see..." Professor Dusanic's words that the School should thank the dean and the administration "for its demonstrated care, tact and courage", were welcomed with an applause.

TWO SCREENPLAYS: It is rather quiet at the School of Philosophy these days: the professors who have not signed the contract still give lectures. Dean Vojvodic has still not obeyed the directive of the Minister of Education, Dr. Jova Todorovic's, who, this time very clearly, states that all professors who have not yet signed the contracts must be suspended from their posts. It sounds comforting, as the Minister underlines, that "all teachers and associates, who, according to their own will, do not want to sign the contract with the School, will be offered by the dean another job out of that institution, such as that in a field of scientific activity. Letters with the same directive, were sent to vice-chancellors of the universities throughout Serbia, and they end with the Minister's following words: "I need to mention that my opinion on these matters is in accord with the Serbian government."

It is only a question of how long this silence will last at the School of Philosophy, or does it all look rather like the calm before the storm? The pessimists believe that plans have already been constructed "where necessary": the School of Philosophy is a 'hornet's nest' and it has to be destroyed. In addition to the official statements about this faculty, as one of the strong points of the 'opposition flag bearers', as one of the most important points to be 'liberated', there have also been such messages as that the School of Philosophy is an 'unnatural conglomerate of ten faculties'. The intention is to break up this school: the turbulent psychology should be adjoined to the very obedient School of Special Education, and the reluctant sociology should become a department of the School of Politics, which is now run by a reliable member of JUL, Prof. Vladimir Stambuk.
The optimists at the School of Philosophy, on the other hand, are likely to think that Dean Vojvodic resists government pressure and that he will become famous for saving his school during these arduous times, in which other deans, that of the School of Law (Oliver Antic), the School of Electrical Engineering (Vlada Teodosic) and the School of Philology (Radmilo Marojevic) - whose forerunner was Dean of the School of Forest Engineering (Dusan Jovic) - are passionately coming into conflicts with their colleagues: some professors are illegally sacked, others are suspended, fined or transferred somewhere else, and at the School of Electrical Engineering, there has also been physical mistreatment performed by the professional 'gorillas'. These faculties are in a permanent state of pre-cardiac arrest.

SPINAL DISCIPLINE: At the School of Philology, with the dean's decision, the Department of World Literature and its theory literally does not exist anymore: only one out of 14 teachers and associates have signed the agreement, and that one is transferring to Novi Sad; the others are resisting the dean's decision to spend their working days from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the non-existing Institute for Scientific Research.

"We are a unique department of Belgrade University because we completely refused to conform to Article 165 of the new University Law. I think that this is of the exemplary significance: it is obvious from our case that the entire profession refuses to yield before violence and stupidity. In this way we also announce to both our students and our colleagues from other schools, as well as, I think, to every conscious citizen of this country, that nothing can be achieved with eyes closed and back bent. Violence has to be opposed by all legal means that are available", says the department chair, Prof. Vladeta Jankovic, for VREME.

Though many professors are upset mostly by the apathy and lack of solidarity of their associates, professor Jankovic does not hide that he is impressed with the support of students (with whom other teachers avoided even the basic communication, as they were afraid of being accused of manipulation!) "They are boycotting the teaching of the imposed professors, brought as substitution, and with this act, they are reminding those ambitious individuals who are eager to build their university careers over the dead bodies of their colleagues, that it is not a profitable way." Professor Jankovic defines Dean Marojevic, who proposed to students who wish to study World Literature that "they can go to Tirana, such a department exists there!", as ‘the excessive phenomenon who, carried by the unhealthy ideas of a Messiah, wants to reconstruct Serbian Philology and completely exterminate everything that has been built for 150 years of this faculty's existence. Overcome by foolish ideas and personal hatred, the dean has managed to turn even the most reconcilable colleagues against himself: at the School of Philology, out of 150 teachers, maybe only 20 support him. All the others wake up every morning with the hope of reading about his replacement in the newspaper. This is not a figure of speech: this university has no future as long as it is run by Radmilo Marojevic."

EMIGRATION: What will actually happen to the Department of World Literature and its theory? "We decided to find a proper way to save our profession: all teachers will stick together; we will work with students and teach the courses, even if we have to do it in private flats! Students are entitled to sit exams at the School of Philology, whatever it turns out to be in the meantime. We will remain in a kind of internal emigration until better times and until we are able to come back, together with the same program, same conception and same interpretation of literature, which we inherited and which we are determined to leave to our posterity. This is a quite exceptional department: it has been developed with each generation, and it represents the cultural heritage of our nation, owing to which Serbia belongs to the world association. We are protecting it as an incubation, as a rare icon, which we are leaving for generations behind us... We are doing this, not for our own sake, there are neither personal nor ideological motives. If everyone defended their share of the 'front', by which I mean the freedom of thought, the equilibrium of forces in this society would be different.", says Prof. Jankovic.

Our conversationalist emphasizes that the world academic publicity woke up, and that greater support for the 'unsuitable' professors comes from abroad than from our country itself (perhaps due to the situation of the media). The great world newspapers, 'Le Monde', 'New York Times', 'The Guardian' and Hungarian 'Nepsabadsag', are rising up to protect the professors who are targets of the new University Law. Not long ago, a group of our academics resided in Budapest, where possibilities of initiating alternative academic institutions were considered: there they were interviewed by some of the most popular media houses.

"The public is not informed that the European Conference of Vice-Chancellors - as a protest against what is happening at Belgrade University -even considered the possibility of not recognizing our University degrees. We bitterly fought against such an idea, and proposed that instead of having us isolated (which would be favored by the local government), they ought to integrate us with European courses. This is a very harsh period, but nobody's caprice lasts forever. So, this also has to end and we have to keep our institutions.", says Prof. Jankovic. He also has a suggestion for thinking, addressed to his colleagues who asked: "Why don't you sign these contracts, so that we can fight internally?" He suggests that they revoke their signatures instead, not as a gesture of solidarity, but rather self-preservation.