Boğaziçi University students stated that the rector should not be appointed but elected and criticized the action as a part of anti-democratic practices which allowed President Erdogan to unilaterally appoint university rectors following the 2016 coup d'état. Faculty members stated he was the first rector designated by forces outside a university in Turkey since the 1980 coup d'état. Bulu was protested by students who were outraged by the appointment which they deemed to be a political move by the ruling AKP. They said: "We do not accept it as it clearly violates academic freedom and scientific autonomy as well as the democratic values of our university", along with slogans "Melih Bulu is not our rector." Editor-in-chief of "Yeni Akit", a pro-government newspaper, Ali Karahasanoğlu criticized the protests saying that: "As if a professor was not appointed in accordance with legislation and customs but a shopkeeper from Mahmutpaşa." After nearly a month of protest it became clear that no academic of the university wanted to work with Bulu as the vice-president. Bulu shut down the LGBT Club of the university (BÜLGBTI) in February 2021.