The forum "Social responsibility of experts - from criticism to disagreement" was held in Novi Sad.

The panel addressing the issue of the profession's relationship to its professional and broader social role was held in Novi Sad on October 22, 2020. In contemporary Serbian society, it is evident that important social and political decisions are made with insufficient consultation with experts. It often seems that the purpose of consulting the professional public is to obtain coverage for pre-made decisions, rather than the goal of making a quality decision that is in the best interest of the general public. At this forum, we wanted to see from the perspective of different fields (medicine, architecture, ecology, law, culture) what are the reasons for insufficient engagement of academic workers and experts in social events that encroach on their competences.

They participated in the forum Dr. Sci. Predrag Đurić, an epidemiologist currently employed as the head of the European Union aid project in Ukraine, Dr. Alexander Bede, urban planner, architect and member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Architects of Novi Sad, prof. Dr. Bojan Pajtić, full professor at the Faculty of Law, Dimitrije Radisic, assistant at the Department of Biology and Ecology of the Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Novi Sad and activist of the Society for the Protection and Study of Birds of Serbia, Bora Babic, director of the publishing house Akademska knjiga i prof. Dr. Đorđe Pavićević, full professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade and member of the coordination board of MASE.

Analyzing examples from the domain of academic, professional and activist activities of speakers, we tried to see what are the key reasons for the relatively weak public engagement of academic and professional workers. It was pointed out that academic workers often do not perceive public engagement as a part of their professional role and that the system of advancement and incentives in the academic system, which is often reduced to "chasing for points", does not value this type of engagement. Experts often find a more adequate space for wider social action in professional associations or non-governmental organizations from their field of activity. Acting on behalf of such organizations is sometimes motivated by their greater efficiency and possibility of influence, and sometimes by the fact that public engagement is not carried out in the name of an "academic function" in order to avoid potential role conflicts. When it comes to the academic community, the speakers pointed out that there is a certain kind of lulling in one's own scientific and research world, as well as a feeling of protection in a position that brings a good existence. Public discourse in which any engagement is labeled as "political action," which has a negative connotation, further discourages experts from engaging in issues that are important to the wider community. Finally, the public itself sometimes has a dampening effect, because it demands quick, easy and populist answers to problems from experts, while, on the contrary, the real situation is complex and cannot be overcome with quick solutions, and often realistic solutions seem "unpopular".

Invitation to the forum "Social responsibility of experts - from criticism to disagreement"

On an almost daily basis, our society faces crises that arise as a result of making insufficiently competent decisions in all domains of action: medicine, law, economy, urban planning, ecology, etc. Such situations less often result from disagreements within the profession, and more often from making compromises between the opinions of the profession and political actors, or due to the omission of experts from the process of making important decisions. All this leads to the creation of a society that ignores the public good and the interests of citizens.

What should the public engagement of academic workers mean? Should experts wait to be consulted or must they actively fight to have their opinions heard? Do academic workers and experts have the right to defend the public good? And finally, what is the purpose of education in a society that makes decisions ignoring the opinion of the most competent and qualified individuals and groups?

At this forum, through a conversation with experts and scientists from different fields, we want to start a discussion on the topic of the professional public's attitude towards their profession and public action, as well as the issue of social responsibility that comes with public office.

The venue: Cafe Brod Zeppelin, Kej Žrtava Racie bb, Novi Sad
https://www.facebook.com/Cafe-brod-Zeppelin-281248608726941

Time: 22.10.2020. at 6 p.m

Participants:
- Dr. Sci. honey Predrag Đurić, epidemiologist
- Dr. Aleksandar Bede, Association of Architects of Novi Sad
- prof. Dr. Bojan Pajtić, Faculty of Law
- Dimitrije Radišić, Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Mathematics
- Bora Babić, Academic Book Publishing Company.
- prof. Đorđe Pavićević, Ph.D., Faculty of Political Sciences and member of KO MASA

Moderator: Dr. Bojana Bodroža, assistant professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad and trustee of MAS for Novi Sad

MASA is a study on advancement to higher positions at faculties

The Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement (MASA) organizes a forum on the occasion of the presentation of research that aims to guide us to norms, practices and shortcomings of promotion to higher positions at universities in the Republic of Serbia. The analysis includes the legal framework of educational advancement, the practice of selection for a title investigated through the (un)available reports of the commissions of individual universities, while the final word, which opens up new questions, is given to the members of the academic community itself, since we conclude the research with a conversation with the vice-deans of all three state universities .

How to arrange the rules in order to prevent nepotism and discrimination during the selection of positions? How to reduce the possibility of the influence of personal relationships at the faculties, and promote the independence of the commission in the direction of greater objectivity in decision-making? In what way is it possible to increase the responsibility of committee members for checking facts and data in reports?

These are just some of the issues that we will discuss at the forum that will be held in Wednesday, October 21, starting at 12:00 in the small hall of the Media Center in Terazije.

Panelists:

Prof. Đorđe Pavićević, Ph.D., Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, Massa Coordination Board
Prof. Dr. Danilo Vuković, Faculty of Law in Belgrade
Prof. Dr. Jelena Jerinić, Vice Dean for Science, Union Faculty of Law
Prof. Dr. Tomislav Živanović, President of GSPRS Nezavisnost
Dr. Igor Stanković, scientific advisor, Institute of Physics in Belgrade
Prof. Dr. Petar Bulat, vice-rector for teaching, University of Belgrade (TBC)
Prof. Gordana Kocić, general secretary of the National Council for Higher Education (TBC)

The persecution of PBF professors continues the attacks on the autonomy of UB

The Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement (MASA) strongly condemns the ban on teaching duties issued by prof. Dr. Rodoljub Kubat and announcing his dismissal, as well as other acts that call into question the freedom of action, opinion and speech of teachers and associates of this faculty. Also, we call for the work of this faculty to be brought into line with the legal framework as soon as possible, as well as the norms of civilization that, as a society, we hope, we all share.

On the occasion of the latest news that the dean of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology at the University of Belgrade, prof. Zoran Ranković, Ph.D., issued a decision banning full-time professor Rodoljub Kubat, Ph.D. from performing the duties of a teacher in academic studies, and announcing that he will soon be handed his resignation. of education, science and technological development to react as quickly as possible and prevent the persecution of Prof. Kubat, but also other teachers and associates of this faculty.
This is the last in a series of events that violates the law-guaranteed autonomy of the University of Belgrade, of which this Faculty is a member, at the Orthodox Theological Faculty (PBF) of the University of Belgrade. By previous acts of the faculty administration and the Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, teachers of this faculty are prohibited from any form of public speaking. For some, progress in the profession is conditioned by showing obedience to the church authorities, others are prohibited from participating in classes, while the previous dean, Bishop prof. Dr. Ignatije Midić was forced to resign because the Synod demanded his dismissal.
It is undeniable that PBF has a naturally close relationship with the Serbian Orthodox Church since members and members of the high hierarchy teach and study at this academic institution. It is disputed, however, that this relationship is not regulated in a manner that is legally valid and in accordance with higher legal acts - the Statute of the University of Belgrade and the Law on Higher Education. This fact was noted by the Committee for Statutory Issues of the University of Belgrade in December 2019, assessing that they are members of the PBF Statute, which foresee the possibility of influence of the Synod and church authorities in the work of the Faculty in violation of the Law and the University Statute.
Referring to disputed articles of the PBF Statute, however, still allows the members of the Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the PBF administration to make arbitrary, unfounded and unquestionable decisions about the fate of the teachers of this institution. This not only endangers the principle of university autonomy, but also the civilizational achievements of freedom of thought, speech and academic research. In the end, in this way the existence of the mentioned teachers is threatened, an atmosphere of fear and submission is encouraged, which is fundamentally alien to free societies, the academic community, and we believe the Orthodox Church itself.

Threats to the ethics commission are an attack on the entire university

Member of the Council of the Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement (MASA) prof. Dr. Danica Popović has been under the attack of tabloids for a long time, which unfoundedly and flatly judge and qualify her academic work as well as her personality. They are in public now came out and "underground" influences with "benevolent" threats exerting pressure on the Ethics Commission of the Faculty of Economics in order to bring about the condemnation of prof. Popović for allegedly plagiarizing textbook translations.

On this occasion, MASA emphasizes that it will always strongly oppose the disqualification of colleagues based on the practices of repressive institutions. Writing falsified letters from fake addresses with threats, in which the rector of the University of Belgrade is falsely involved, is not only a criminal offense, but also represents brutal pressure on actors not to oppose the public lynching of Prof. Popović, and for us it also represents an attack on the University of Belgrade. We are particularly concerned that a letter of this content is not an isolated case.

The Ethics Committee should adopt and communicate its opinion based on professional assessment and ethical standards prescribed for academic work. Defending the right of members of the academic community to freely express their professional and critical opinions, MASA will firmly advocate for the defense of the autonomy of university bodies from external, including any political pressures and manipulations. At the same time, we do not want our colleagues to be the subject of investigations and condemnations by university bodies for actions that are not related to their academic work and academic titles. Other authorities are responsible for such possible procedures. Today, despite the opinion of the Expert Commission, someone's profession is publicly questioned on the basis of an individual position on the translation of a text that is treated flatly as a scientific paper from the economic sciences. MASA will always react strongly to attempts to apply clichéd public standards of morality to academic work in order to influence the decisions of university bodies.

We expect the EF Ethics Commission to make the right decision in the case of Danica Popović, just as we expect colleagues and fellow members of the academic community to stand in solidarity against such pressures that create an atmosphere of fear where everyone is a potential target.

We are sending an open letter of support to the Faculty of Philology

OPEN LETTER
TO THE RECTOR, SENATE AND COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BELGRADE

Academics and the wider public in Serbia have known for several years about scandals and abuses at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade: extremely irregular financial operations, enormous incomes of a small number of employees, illegal accumulation of key functions, numerous cases of plagiarism. All of this was partly made possible by deliberately fostered organizational chaos, which brought the Faculty of Philology (FF) to a state of complete institutional and legal disarray. For years, FF has not been able to pass a new statute that would be harmonized with the Law on Higher Education and the Statute of the University of Belgrade (UB), to hold regular elections for key bodies and to properly constitute them, so even today it does not have an Ethics Commission, which would cases of plagiarism and other forms of non-academic behavior could be reported.

It is no secret that the greatest responsibility for such a situation rests with prof. Ph.D. Ljiljana Marković, who was dean of Faculty of Arts from 2016 to 2019, and then acting dean until July of this year, when she was relieved of her duties after a public reprimand issued to her by the UB Ethics Committee due to multiple violations of the code of professional ethics. However, that public admonition reveals only part of the moral character of Prof. Dr. Ljiljane Marković. The Ethics Committee of UB, by the nature of things, could not deal with her almost unbelievable financial mistakes, which were pointed out by the State Audit Institution in 2018, just as it could not deal with the fact that her scientific career is largely based on fictitious publications and plagiarism . Evidence of this exists, but the UB Ethics Committee, as a second-level body, can consider them only after the FF Ethics Commission, which does not yet exist. After all this, should we even say that the appointment of Prof. Dr. Ljiljane Marković as a special advisor in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (Ministry of Education) caused astonishment and indignation among the academic, and not only the academic, public.

Dismissal of Prof. Dr. Ljiljane Marković opened the possibility to return the work of FF to normal frameworks, and to that end, in agreement with the rector of UB, prof. Dr. Ivankom Popović, a plan was made how to, before the start of the academic year 2020-2021. year, elect a new dean and all key bodies of the FF. Bearing in mind both the interest of the students and the interest of the academic community, the representatives of the majority of teachers and associates of FF accepted, as a temporary solution until the election of a new dean, that prof. Dr. Anđelka Mitrović, one of the closest collaborators of Prof. Ljiljane Marković, Ph.D., will be acting dean of FF. The Ministry of Education was aware of this plan and did not express any objections to it.

The teaching-scientific council of FF, in a secret vote in which almost 901 TP3T of its composition participated, elected the members of the key faculty bodies at the beginning of this month. The results of that vote unequivocally showed that the teachers and associates want to put an end to lawlessness and moral decay, which have ruled the Faculty of Philology for years, and it was clear that their statement about the candidate for dean, scheduled for September 17, would confirm that commitment. It seems that this was not acceptable for those who for years, openly or from the shadows, managed the faculty, so the acting dean, prof. Dr. Anđelka Mitrović, first postponed the vote by a few days, and then the Educational Inspection of the Ministry of Education appeared, which - claiming that a new FF statute must be adopted first - ordered that the dean election procedure be suspended.

The decision of the Educational Inspection represents an open and rude attack on the university's autonomy guaranteed by law and cannot be justified by any formal reasons. The steps taken in the past months at FF, in agreement with the UB rector and with the knowledge of the Ministry of Education, are the only legal and legitimate way to overcome the deep crisis that has ruined the reputation of one of the oldest academic institutions in Serbia: only the quick election of a new dean will enable return the work of FF to the legal and statutory framework.

As long-time professors of FF, we urge you to most decisively ask the Ministry of Education to cancel the unsustainable decision of the Education Inspection and thereby contribute to improving the situation at FF. Any other outcome would have unfathomable consequences for the relationship between the authorities and the academic community in Serbia, because - and surely no one wants that - it would seriously threaten the autonomy of the university, without which neither UB nor other universities in Serbia can successfully respond to their complex tasks.

In Belgrade, September 27, 2020.

Prof. Dr. Ranko Bugarski

Prof. Dr. Darinka Gortan Premk

Prof. Dr. Vladeta Janković

Prof. Dr. Leon Cohen

Prof. Dr. Dragan Stojanović

Prof. Dr. Đorđe Trifunović