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. My second observation is that dreams of the old commonwealth are very much alive among young Polish academics that I met. During the 1998 Vilnius conference, one Lublin professor went on and on about the stupidity of independence and how Lithuania would be much better off back in union with Poland. Also, during the summer school this past July, a dear friend who I had met at the 1996 Lublin conference came to visit me in Birstonas.