This is the latest event of the crisis, for the details see the previous
letter of Prof. Nikolchina below.

s.
================

From: "Miglena Nikolchina" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "Istvan Teplan" <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: "Yehuda Elkana" <[log in to unmask]>; "Istvan Rev" <[log in to unmask]>;
<[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2000 6:39 AM
Subject: resignation


Dear Istvan Teplan,
After deep consideration I have decided to resume my position at Sofia
University and resign from my teaching position at CEU. My contract with
CEU - although CEU has not impressed me as a place where contracts are
observed - allows me to do so upon a one month notice.

I am not going to repeat what I already wrote in a number of letters. The
major reason for my resignation is profound personal disappointment. CEU has
proved unable to live up to the democratic changes in Central and Eastern
Europe and its professed values of the open society. It has failed its
unique chance to serve as a relay point for the internationlization of
education and scientific research in the region.

Only the hope that my efforts could help the overcoming of the disaster
brought about by Rector Yehuda Elkana and his repeated violations of
academic freedom and procedure has kept me from resigning even earlier.

I have now lost that hope and my staying on would be both immoral and
meaningless.

With deep regards,
Miglena Nikolchina



From: "Miglena Nikolchina" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]>;
<[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: <[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]>;
<[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2000 11:49 PM
Subject: Program on Gender and Culture



Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2000 11:49 PM
Subject: Program on Gender and Culture


Rector Elkana,

The steps and stages deliberately devised by you for the destruction of the
Program on Gender and Culture at CEU have now attained their final clarity.

1. On October 22 the Senate accepted your proposal for an addendum to the
Faculty compendium which in effect referred uniquely to the Program on
Gender and Culture (the only program that is not integrated into a
department) and which postulated that new directors should be appointed
through an internal search only. What followed was the reduction of the thus
proposed internal search to one thinkable candidate through the following
violations of procedure and, sometimes, Hungarian law:

2. I, as director, with a valid 2 year contract (voted by an international
search committee, the Senate and SARC) was fired without explanation,
review, or procedure.

3. The only full time Professor at the Program Andrea Peto was fired without
review, in violation of both CEU procedure and the Hungarian labor law.

4. The search for a Senior Professor was shamefully botched (the thirty
something international candidates for the position are probably still
waiting for an explanation). As a result, the two external members of the
search committee resigned and nobody from the CEU administration or the
board of trustees ever replied to their complaints.

5. Eminent international scholars (Joan Scott who visited the previous year
and Judith Butler who was going to visit among them), as well as anyone
teaching at the Program who had any option resigned or cut ties with CEU.

6. The new director had to be appointed. First the Rector Yehuda Elkana
appointed himself acting head of the Program. Then, when the IDP cautioned
that this was an ill-advised move, he appointed another acting director
rather than wait until January 2001 when a second realistic candidate, Judit
Sandor, might apply (at present she is on a sabbatical).

7. There is one candidate left: Susan Zimmermann. She never cared to teach
at the Program but this is obviously an asset in view of the circumstances.
Now, finally, CEU can follow procedure and do what has already been done
more than once precisely through the violation of procedure (Zimmermann has
been appointed at least a couple of times to the same position over this
summer) Clearly, the appointment is now going to take place for the third
time.

Meanwhile:

1. New and returning students are wondering why they find almost nothing
from the variety and richness of the teaching that was offered the previous
year.
2. The international community is outraged. Letters of protest about the
violations of procedure pour in. The American Association of University
Professors is asked to consider an investigation. The Open University is
reconsidering its affiliation with CEU. The Middle States Certifying Board
is notified that there is major trouble at CEU.
3. A lawsuit against CEU is pending.

But there is also the unforgettable story, the comedy of a small parochial,
very limited (we are talking about a small postgraduate institution after
all) satrapy implanted by a dilettante, self-designated philosopher-king, an
anachronistic encyclopedia survivor who wants to implement amidst the dramas
of transitional Central and Eastern Europe his 18th century vision of Grand
Knowledge.

I was asked by you whether I was going to teach at CEU next year.

I do not want to teach, Rector Elkana, in an institution where academic
freedom is abused, contracts are violated, and new scientific directions are
relegated to the status of  activism.

But I will continue to teach because I cannot resign in the face of
injustice and abuse of the very idea of academia. You will have to fire me.

Miglena Nikolchina













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