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CEU Rector: Orbán cabinet appears to have decided on university’s fate in Hungary – UPDATE
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The Central European University’s (CEU) rector and president, Michael Ignatieff, has said that it appeared from recent statements by Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, that the government had already decided on the university’s fate in Hungary.
In a letter to Szijjártó, the CEU’s rector wrote: “In remarks to the press earlier this week, you gave the clearest indication yet that on January 1, 2019 your government will force CEU out of Hungary.”
“You assert that CEU has not established educational activity in the State of New York. This will obviously be the basis on which the government justifies its decision,” Ignatieff said in the letter seen by MTI.
“If this is the government’s decision, it will be ignoring the terms of your own legislation,” he added.
The Hungarian higher education law “clearly states that the authorities competent to decide whether a foreign institution is conducting educational activities in its home state are the educational authorities of that state. The New York State Department of Education has repeatedly informed the government of Hungary that CEU is conducting educational activities in New York. You cannot be unaware of this correspondence. It has been a matter of public record for months,” the letter said.
The open letter from Central European University rector Ignatieff to Foreign minister Szijjártó:
Dear Mr Foreign Minister
In remarks to the press earlier this week, you gave the clearest indication yet that on January 1, 2019 your government will force CEU out of Hungary.
You assert that CEU has not established educational activity in the State of New York. This will obviously be the basis on which the government justifies its decision.
If this is the government’s decision, it will be ignoring the terms of your own legislation. The Hungarian higher education law, passed by your Parliament, clearly states that the authorities competent to decide whether a foreign institution is conducting educational activities in its home state are the educational authorities of that state. The New York State Department of Education has repeatedly informed the government of Hungary that CEU is conducting educational activities in New York. You cannot be unaware of this correspondence. It has been a matter of public record for months.
You, Mr Rector and President, Michael Ignatieff, of the CEU in Budapest, are a big wide open arsehole. You are causing a political row over something that has already been sorted. It has already been stated that the CEU will not be leaving Budapest. Get your facts straight, you sneeze bag.
American Colleges don’t own Universities.
Bard College would be lucky to have its own Basketball Team.
American Universities that own Colleges abroad do so to enable their Students, typically in their 3rd Year, to soak up the local Culture…not to push for Regime Change
It is time for CEU to leave. It caused more headache than good for Hungary.
Yes, Michael Ignorantdumbkoff was a failed politician here in Canada too. Can you all see why? He can’t even spell his last name correctly!!
How about moderating comments and removing those that are discourteous and use inappropriate language? By all means express strong feelings, but rudeness gets you nowhere and immediately puts you on the losing side