'The academic community of Serbia, BiH, and Croatia must assume a critical, not political, role'

SARAJEVO/ZAGREB/BELGRADE, (Patria) – Several professors and academics from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia are warning about the deteriorating position of universities and the academic community in these countries, although they emphasize that positive changes in society should originate precisely from these institutions.

'The Čović Case'

A group of professors from Zagreb have openly criticized the University of Zagreb for awarding an honorary doctorate to the president of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović, stating that such a decision is political and a defeat for the largest university in Croatia.

Writer, university professor, film critic, publicist, and one of the most respected journalists in Croatia, Jurica Pavičić, in protest against the honorary doctorate awarded to Čović, publicly and demonstratively offered to return his own doctorate, reports the Patria agency.

“Everyone who holds a doctorate from the University where Čović is an honorary doctor should return it – I am returning mine,” Pavičić said in a column for Jutarnji list. Before Pavičić, Professor Đurđica Čilić from the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb spoke about political pressure on the University of Zagreb in the Čović case.

Professor Esad Duraković from the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo recently warned about the influence of politics on universities and the servility of the academic community itself.

'The Academic Community in BiH Deserves Contempt'

“...Instead of leading society – critically aware and politically impartial because it represents the Mind, the Brain of its society – this community has, in the post-war period, and as time goes on, become incomprehensibly and unacceptably servile, apathetic, inert… I often think – forgive me – that, as such, it deserves contempt,” said academician Duraković.

“While this community is clearly provincializing itself to unimaginable proportions, while it sinks into personnel sclerosis and selfishness, into opportunism towards politics that imposes its ignorance upon it, instead of the academic community enlightening and leading it, it – the academic community – betrays its very being and therefore cannot expect things to get better for it… And all together – it will shatter the entire society,” added Duraković in a column published on the Patria agency portal.

Professor Čedomir Čupić from the Faculty of Political Sciences and a political anthropologist from Belgrade said in the Pressing show on N1 TV that politics in Serbia is trying to manage the university from the outside.

“The university should be interested in the politics of its community, it should have a critical role, it should warn parties and those in power, and if this is denied to them, know that they are facing a dangerous situation,” emphasized the professor from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade.

'Professors in Serbia Have Become Inert'

“A professor has a responsibility for the position they hold, it is a sacred calling, they develop society – it is a calling that gives potential for humanity to develop,” he added.

Speaking about criticism, which he said should and must come from universities, Čupić recalled Tito and 1968, which, in his assessment, most shook his rule.

“Anyone who questions criticism is in big trouble – they are either a great bully or a usurper,” added Čupić.

“Professors have become inert, some are tired, others have been lulled by the authorities with various privileges, and in my opinion, we have a dormant situation at the University,” said Professor Čupić, adding that those who are “different” go through a Calvary because they are slandered in tabloids.

Speaking about the role of elites, he emphasized that the intellectual elite, which is the most significant because it is the driver of everything, is divided on various important issues. “Here, the elite has never been united, since 1804 and the formation of statehood – there have always been those who were with the authorities, who had their own interests, he states. And today, elites are most often party-affiliated, representing narrow party interests,” assessed Professor Čupić, reports the Patria agency.