Tight security on campus marks rector ceremony in Manado<\/p>\n
MANADO, North Sulawesi (JP): A strong presence of police and
\nsecurity officers marked the installation of a new rector at the
\nstate-owned University of Sam Ratulangi here on Wednesday,
\ntestimony to the troubled relations between students and college
\nadministrators.<\/p>\n
Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro
\ninstalled Jopie Paruntu as the university's new rector to replace
\nR.S. Tangkudung, who finishes his second five-year term.<\/p>\n
Police officers and security guards were posted at the main
\nentrance of the assembly hall. Inside, the ceremony proceeded
\nsmoothly. It was watched by hundreds of university officials and
\nfaculty members, though less than 20 students, mostly members of
\nthe rector-controlled student senate, were in attendance.<\/p>\n
The campus has been beset by students protesting for the last
\ntwo months for more democratically elected student
\nrepresentatives and organizations. The students have also accused
\na number of faculty members of misappropriating student funds.<\/p>\n
Students said that the previous rector had simply summoned the
\npolice to deal with the protesters and thus his relationship with
\nthe students has soured.<\/p>\n
\"Pak Tangkudung has given Pak Paruntu a lot of homework,\"
\nIndah, a student from the School of Social and Political
\nSciences, commented.<\/p>\n
Paruntu, when questioned about the current problems, replied
\nthat he needed time to study the situation. \"I cannot say
\nanything yet ...Only after I have identified the problems can I
\nsay how I will handle them,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Tangkudung was not available for comment.<\/p>\n
Minister Wardiman in his speech at the ceremony addressed the
\nproblems of student organizations on campuses, stressing that the
\npresence of these organizations is already regulated by rules
\nissued by his ministry.<\/p>\n
Rather than establishing new organizations, Wardiman suggested
\nthat the students, together with university administrators, try
\nto improve existing organizations.<\/p>\n
\"Any flaw in the way the regulations are implemented should
\nnot be seen as an excuse to form a new organization or to deviate
\nfrom the law,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Similar demands for better student representation and for
\ngreater campus freedom have also been voiced by students on other
\ncampuses throughout Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Emphasizing that campuses are not the place for practical
\npolitics, Wardiman defended the decision by the rector to call on
\nthe police to maintain campus order.<\/p>\n
He also doubted that the protesters represented the entire
\nstudent body.<\/p>\n
Paruntu was elected rector by acclamation in a plenary meeting
\nof the university's senate last December.<\/p>\n
He obtained his bachelor's degree at the School of Agriculture
\nhere, his masters degree at the Bogor Agriculture Institute and
\nhis doctoral degree at Nottingham University in Britain. (pwn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tight-security-on-campus-marks-rector-ceremony-in-manado-1447893297",
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