Dear HE President Ader,
we are writing to express our deep concern regarding Bill T/14686 amending the Hungarian Higher Education Act, accepted by the Hungarian Parliament on April 4, 2017, which severely threatens the further operation of Central European University (CEU) in Budapest.
After stimulating meetings between the faculty of the Department for the Study of Religions, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, and of CEU’s departments of History, Medieval Studies, and Sociology and Social Anthropology, an exchange contract for both teachers and students has recently been signed between our two universities, exemplifying the outreach and prestige of CEU in the Visegrád Group and far beyond. CEU collaborates with hundreds of universities in Europe and the world, thus contributing to the visibility of Hungary in international research. We believe all this is now at stake.
At our department, we always regarded CEU as one of the most outstanding universities in Central Europe. The high quality of its research and teaching brings important incentives not only to Hungary, but also to the whole region of Central Europe. The ceasing of the CEU operation in Budapest would mean a considerable loss for the whole Central Europe.
Besides being harmful to the development of science and academic education in Central Europe, the Bill means also a considerable threat to civic society and democratic principles and processes. It represents an exploitation of the law in the name of particular political interests. By passing the Bill, Hungary will send a distressing message about the political manipulation with and violation of freedom of research and education to the rest of the world.
Consequently, we respectfully ask you to consider refraining from signing the aforementioned Bill and referring it to the Constitutional Court of Hungary, so that the legality of the Bill can be scrutinized and discussed properly.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Aleš Chalupa
chair, Department for the Study of Religions, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University
Dr. David Zbíral
vice-chair, Department for the Study of Religions, Faculty of Arts,Masaryk University
Dr. Radek Kundt
director, LEVYNA Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion, Masaryk University