The Democratic Party denounces what it describes as pressure from university leaders on lecturers who have supported the student protest. In a statement to the media, the head of the Education Department of the DP, Lili Sula, raised concerns about the case of “Eqrem Çabej” University in Gjirokastër, where, according to her, the rector and the dean have pressured a lecturer, identified by the initials A.K., not to take part in the protest. Sula claims that collective meetings were organised with the lecturer, during which she was asked not to support the students. She described these actions as violations of individual rights, academic freedom and the dignity of the academic.
Statement by the head of the Education Department of the DP, Lili Sula:
During the days of the student protest, university leaders have pressured lecturers, asking them not to support their students.
The case of “Eqrem Çabej” University in Gjirokastër is a clear example: the rector and the dean have pressured lecturer A.K. not to join the protest, organising collective meetings as in the years of the dictatorship, in serious violation of individual rights, academic freedom and the dignity of the academic.
The rector of Gjirokastër became viral in the media for his ridiculous public appearance, in which he declared that he did not recognise the union or the boycott.
It is completely condemnable that the mentality of the dictatorship years, fed also by orders from political envoys in Gjirokastër, is used to discriminate against or prevent lecturers from supporting the protest.
Participation in the protest is a constitutional and trade union right. The rector and the dean have no right to prevent lecturers from being members of the union of university employees of Albania, to prevent lecturers from showing solidarity with students and, even less, to take punitive measures against them. Taking measures without transparency, without documentation and without the necessary information is a violation of the law.
What academic freedom, institutional autonomy and professorial status can be expected from leaders who expose the “internal enemy” in collective meetings, who threaten to remove the lectures of a subject that you have taught for more than 10 years, who use salaries as blackmail and punish lecturers with salary suspensions?!
Supporting students today is a duty that goes beyond teaching in lecture halls – it is a mission for lecturers, who shape the citizens of the nation, but also for every parent and citizen who wants children to grow up, be educated and live normally in this country.
The Democratic Party, strongly condemning these attitudes, which do not belong to the university world, invites lecturers, parents and citizens to unite in support of the student protest on Saturday, at 12:00, in front of the Prime Minister’s Office.