CEU President and Rector Meets with High-Level U.S. Officials at the White House, State Department, and Congress

Budapest, April 6, 2017 – Central European University (CEU) President and Rector Michael Ignatieff met with the following U.S. officials and members of Congress as well as journalists in the past four days to garner support for CEU’s case.

• National Security Council Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Europe and Russia Fiona Hill
• Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas A. Shannon, Jr.
• Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Responsible for U.S. relations with the countries of Central Europe and South Central Europe, Hoyt Yee
• Democratic and Republican members of the House and Senate, including ranking members of the Senate and House Foreign Relations Committees.
• German Marshall Fund President Karen Donfried

Ignatieff was deeply gratified to learn, firsthand, just how much support there is in the U.S. Administration and in Congress for CEU’s defense of academic freedom. He heard expressions of concern from Administration and Congressional leaders about the negative impact that the new Hungarian higher education law would have on Hungarian-American relations.

On Monday, Ignatieff travels to Berlin to discuss CEU’s case with German political figures, academic leaders, foundations and the media.

The expressions of support that CEU has received from federal President Steinmeier, the office of the federal Chancellor and the German leader of the EPP fraction in the European Parliament have been inspiring to the CEU community. On his return, Ignatieff will be briefing the CEU community and the press on the results of his trip.

Source: CEU – Press release