POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN

The other day I posted an item reporting efforts by the government of Hungary to ban programs in gender studies.  Yesterday the following letter was sent to Jozsef Bodis, Hungarian Minister of Education:

Minister of Education
Hungary
jozsef.bodis@emmi.gov.hu

Dear Minister of Education,

We write to protest the Hungarian government’s proposed law which would cancel an accredited, well-performing MA program, with consistently high enrollments. Never before has the government sought to legislate the curriculum of universities without consultation with appropriate university institutions. According to The Hungarian Journal, “the part of the amendment which concerns gender studies provides no explanation whatsoever. Two universities are concerned: Hungary’s biggest state-funded university ELTE, and the Central European University. If the amendment becomes official, it will mean that nobody can attend gender studies courses in Hungary and get a degree in the subject.” It also sets a dangerous precedent for state intervention in all other university courses. By denying to faculty and administrators the academic freedom that is the guarantee of the autonomy of higher education, the Hungarian government puts itself outside the community of democratic nations. We call upon the Minister of Education to refuse this amendment. We also call upon the European Union, of which Hungary is a member nation, to condemn this action as a violation of its principles. And we call upon academic institutions in our own countries to join our protest.

Joan W. Scott
Professor Emerita
School of Social Science
Institute for Advanced Study
Princeton, NJ
and Member, Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure, American Association of University Professors

Peter Goddard
Former Director and Professor Emeritus
School of Natural Sciences
Institute for Advanced Study
Princeton NJ

Henry Reichman
Professor Emeritus
California State University, East Bay
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure, AAUP

Lynn Pasquerella
President
American Association of Colleges and Universities
Washington, DC

Copies have been sent to:

European Union officials:
sue.pavis@eua.be, info@eua.be ,
maria.kelo@enqa.eu, secretariat@enqa.eu

Hungarian ambassador to the US
informacio.was@mfa.gov.hu

American ambassador to Hungary
CulturalAffairsBudapest@state.gov