Not to be able to speak it is to lose something very valuable. And this brings us to two complaints of the Polish minority in the Vilnius region. Since the Lithuanian tongue is non-Slavic, Lithuanian Poles find it difficult to learn Lithuanian and easier to learn Russian. The move dissipated after the failed Soviet counter-revolution that August and with the Kremlin's acceptance of Lithuanian independence. I am told now that a Polish University exists in Vilnius, though not yet accredited by the government.
Students attend for two years and then finish their studies in Poland.
Also in the Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University a department of Polish language and literature exists, and at the Pedagogical Institute there are departments for instructing teachers of Polish. My friend at Vilnius University also remarks that she allows Polish students to answer exams in Polish though she believes this is illegal. Tensions still exist between the government and the Polish minority. Most recently Lithuanian Polish leaders of the move for an autonomous area were retried in court and given extended prison terms. Attending Polish senators from Poland complained bitterly of this outcome.