Academic year starts at drama, film university

Teaching will resume at Budapest’s University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE), the main building of which has been occupied by students protesting against the leadership of the university’s new governing body since Sept. 1.

SZFE’s senate and leadership announced their resignation on Aug. 31, saying the foundation that took over the university on Sept. 1 under a government decree had deprived them of “all essential powers”. Attila Vidnyánszky, the director of the National Theatre, has been appointed to head the university’s supervisory board, sparking protests from many teachers and students.

László Upor, the outgoing deputy rector, told a press conference on Monday that they are turning to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, asking him to suspend the new supervisory board.

The protests will go ahead while courses resume, he said.

The outgoing deputy rector for educational affairs, Eszter Novák, said the reorganisation plans lacked “expertise, honesty or humanity”.

SZFE is calling on Orbán to “listen” to the university’s representatives and to guarantee its autonomy, she said.

The students’ representative told the same press conference that strike committees will maintain the blockade of the university and their demands remain unchanged. He said the student body did not accept the “new leadership and the decisions made behind our backs,” the representative said.

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Source: MTI