THE COUNCIL and the Senate of the Cyprus University appeared to have come to an agreement about their respective authorities at Wednesday’s meeting. The Senate will carry on being responsible for academic matters, while the Council will ensure that the correct procedures are followed and there is compliance with the law before ratifying decisions.
It seems rather peculiar that there had to be a meeting for the two bodies to iron out their differences and agree on the obvious. Was Charis Charalambous, the chairman of the Council of the University, not aware of the fact that academic affairs were the sole responsibility of the Senate? How ironic that the man in charge of the body that ensures correct procedures are followed did not know where his authority ends.
Charalambous, a former health minister, is an AKEL man through and through who was appointed to exercise control of the university for the party. It was because of his attempt to exercise control of academic affairs, with the support of other Akel members of the Council, that there was a dispute with the Senate. An AKEL-backed applicant for a lecturer’s position was not appointed and the Council tried to question the appointment procedure. It dug up a Supreme Court decision relating to a dispute over an appointment at a state organisation and used it to question the ratification of the appointment of the successful candidate by the Council.
The chairman backed down on Wednesday because the advice of the Attorney-general, whose help had been sought by the education minister, was that the Supreme Court decision was of no relevance and that the Council could not rescind a decision it had ratified. Considering that a sensible chairman would have asked for the advice of the Attorney-general before raising the issue and causing a minor crisis, we can only assume that Charalambous was more interested in helping the AKEL candidate.
This was not the only time under his chairmanship the Council has interfered in strictly academic affairs. It is currently refusing to ratify the termination of the employment of an academic, decided by the Senate, because he has links with AKEL. The matter will be discussed at the next Council meeting, but it remains to be seen whether Charalambous will back down, or dig up some legal technicality to declare the termination of employment ‘unsound’.
Never before in the history of the Cyprus University has the Council interfered so blatantly in academic affairs, trying to impose its wishes on the Senate. AKEL has never been happy with the university’s independence and autonomy and has on countless occasions, via the legislature, tried to restrict these. It failed, but the party never gave up the objective of bringing the university under political control, something it hopes to achieve now that it is running the state. At least the academics are resisting, and we hope they carry on doing so.
