July 19, 2020 – Možemo! political platform said in a press release on Sunday that it demanded that the rector of the University of Zagreb, Damir Boras and his team, should immediately tender their irrevocable resignations over the case of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
The left-wing political group accuses the leadership of the University of exerting “institutional violence” against the faculty, and calls on the new government to use all the mechanisms at its disposal to make sure that “irregularities at the University are removed and those responsible are held to account.” The recent decision by Rector Boras to suspend the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vesna Vlahović-Štetić, caused strong reactions in the part of the general public. Boras’s decision is based on a final ruling by the Zagreb County Court of June 26 which found Vlahović-Štetić guilty of harassing Ante Čović, a professor at the faculty, thus harming the dignity of employees in the sphere of communication, social relations and quality of their professional status.
On 14 July, a group of employees and students of the faculty marched from the faculty to Government House and handed in their petition against the Zagreb University Rector’s decision to suspend the faculty’s dean. One of the participants in the protest walk was Tomislav Tomašević of Možemo!, who said then that he supported the protesting students and professors, and accused Boras of abusing the autonomy of the university since he became rector. The press release issued by the Možemo! platform today also criticized the University’s Senate for approving the rector’s decision on the dean’s suspension during an online session, which made it impossible for the participants in that meeting to hold a discussion.
The Senate approved the decision with a two-thirds majority. Sixty-seven of the Senate’s 70 members voted, with 48 voting in favor, 12 against and seven abstaining, the Senate said in a press release on 14 July. Recently, seven members of the Senate wrote to Boras that they were outraged by the way in which the suspension of Vlahović-Štetić had been approved, and deans of six faculties decided to withdraw from the Senate’s membership.
