X-Charset: ASCII
X-Char-Esc: 29
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.slovak-l
Date:         Sun, 4 Oct 1992 09:55:17 MDT
From:         Jan Szelepcsenyi <janszel@POSEN.MFF.UNIBA.CS>
Subject:      Re: New Education Minister

On Thu, 1 Oct 1992 09:21:00 PDT, (Andy Sudol <EEY9ATS@UCLAMVS.BITNET)  wrote:

> This article appears in the Sept. 30 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Ed-
> ucation.  It's being posted here without permission.
>
  (some stuff deleted)
>
> Czechoslovakia is planning to split into two independent countries
> in January.
> Critics have warned that the government of Slovakia, the small eastern
> republic, has already shown some undemocratic tendencies.
>
> Those fears were heightened this month by the action of Slovakia's former
> acting education minister, Dusan Slobodnik, who is currently Minister of
> Culture.  He dismissed Anton Hajduk from his post as rector of Trnava
> University, a new teacher-education collegethat is scheduled to open its
> doors next month.

Mr Slobodnik didn't dismissed Mr Hajduk from his post as rector of
Trnava University, but he asked him to leave the university camp, because
he never got a rector...

The juridical situation is as follows:

The present law of higher education is asking the candidates for any
high academic positition to be an associated or full professor. It is
expected that a person running a university has some experiences in
teaching at a school, which he is going to run.

Mr Hajduk does not fulfill this precondition.

According to the Czechoslovak Citizen Law any official decision
never gets valid if it doesn't respect the formal or conceptual
conditions set down by the law. It means the decret of Mr Havel,
the former president of CSFR, about the nomination of Mr Hajduk
for the post of the rector of TU (Trnavian University) was INVALID
FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. This stated Mr Strasky, the present prime
minister, who is standing for the president of CSFR. Therefore he
doesn't see any reason to remove Mr Hajduk from his post of the
rector, because according to the present law he never got a rector...

> Mr. Slobodnik appointed a new rector, with whom the university
> staff refused to cooperate.  The same reception was given to a
> second replacement rector.

> A vice-rector has now taken control at the institution until
> the courts and the new education minister sort things out.


The consequences of these facts are horrible. None of the
decisions made by Mr Hayduk in personnel, organisational,
financial etc affairs is valid. The TU had to be new established
and organized from the very beginning. Probably this was the
reason, why the academic council rejected the decision of Mr
Slobodnik. All of the members would have to apply for their
posts, they have to pass a new election procedure, etc.

Perhaps, this explains the particular position taken by the
academic staff.  On one side they didn't accept Assoc. Prof. L.
Harrach as the appointed head of the preparatory committee of
the TU, on the other side they complain in the daily PRACA from
1.10.1992 Mr Harrach don't show any interest in the university
affairs.

The first attempt of the new education minister to "sort the
things out" has been made: he stopped the bank account of the
TU.  The TU is at present insolvent. They have to pay some bills
for furniture, school benches etc. The beginning of the academic
year was set up for the October 14. "If it will be necessary,
we'll give courses standing....", said Mr Hajduk.

Can someone explain to me, why this case has to be regarded as
an example for "undemocratic tendencies" ? It's possible that
the procedure of Mr Slobodnik or Mr Kucera in solving this
situation was not quite correct (the present law of higher
education does not have any points concerning a similar
situation). But it doesn't change anything on the basic fact,
that the proposal of the former minister of education Mr Pisut
to nominate Mr Hajduk was out of law and the nomination made by
the president of CSFR Mr Havel was invalid. As you can see,
the article in the Chronicle of Higher Education didn't mention
it by any word...

The cut of some details, which are occasionaly of highest
importance - is that the freedom of press in the modern
fashion?

Jan



--
Jan Szelepcsenyi                        	Telephone: + 42 7 220863
janszel@posen.mff.uniba.cs              	Address  : ul. A. Mraza 4
                                                	   821 03 Bratislava
							   Czechoslovakia
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU