The network of academic solidarity and engagement strongly condemns the interruption of the selection process of the dean of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade, which was ordered by the educational inspection of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (MPNTR).
After two months of the procedure, carried out in accordance with the order of the same inspection dated 13.12.2019. in which it is expressly ordered to take all actions and start the procedure for the election of the dean, acting dean Anđelka Mitrović annulled the elections. What caused this radical turn and why did the MPNTR educational inspectorate issue two mutually contradictory decisions in the space of only nine months?
The crisis at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade has been going on for several years, due to numerous controversial decisions and behavior of the dean, and then the acting dean Ljiljana Marković. The Committee for Professional Ethics of the University of Belgrade issued a public reprimand to her due to a series of omissions and violations of university and legal regulations. Marković is suspected of falsifying documents and irregular management of the Faculty's finances. During her mandate, the Faculty of Philology did not harmonize the Statute with the Law on Higher Education and the Statute of the University, although it was its obligation. In the end, she completely monopolized the most important functions at the faculty, simultaneously performing the functions of dean, vice dean for finance and acting manager of the Department for Financial Operations.
Although her mandate as dean ended due to proven unethical behavior, Ljiljana Marković was appointed as a special advisor in MPNTR. It is very symptomatic that this very Ministry now sends an educational inspection to the Faculty of Philology, which changes its original decision and orders that the procedure for electing a new dean be cancelled, only three days before the scheduled vote. At the moment when it seemed that, after several years, the situation at the Faculty of Philology was normalizing and that the institutional agony was ending, the Ministry employed the person most responsible for that agony and grossly violated the University's autonomy, sending an inspection that stopped the process of selecting a dean.
MASA requests MPNTR not to obstruct the election of the new administration of the Faculty of Philology, but to respect the order of its own inspection issued in December 2019. Also, MASA appeals to the Council of the Faculty of Philology to protect the interests of its own faculty and enable the process of selecting a dean to be completed and the faculty to be introduced into regular business.
We invite colleagues, male and female students to join in solidarity with the protest walk organized by the employees of the Faculty of Philology on Tuesday, September 29, starting at 2 p.m. The walk starts from the Plateau in front of the Faculty of Philosophy.
