Fifty lecturers resign from Salatiga university
Fifty lecturers resign from Salatiga university
SALATIGA, Central Java (JP): At least 50 staff lecturers of
the Satya Wacana Christian University have tendered their
resignation in the latest fall out of a three-year old bickering
with the college administrators.
They said they were resigning because they could not accept
the terms offered by the administrators to return to work.
The 50 or so staff lecturers belong to what they called "pro-
democracy group" which had been fighting a protracted battle to
contest the appointment of John JOI Ihalau as the college's
rector three years ago.
Most of them had been suspended by the college since September
following a riot on the campus. They had also had their salaries
cut by 20 percent in the meantime.
Their decision to resign followed the expulsion of sociologist
Arief Budiman, the most outspoken of the group in the conflict
with the rector. Arief was fired by the university for allegedly
ignoring repeated warnings for being undisciplined.
A truce, brokered by the foundation that owned the college and
prominent Protestant leaders, was signed in November in which
both sides agreed to work to a settlement that would satisfy them
all.
Students in the campus were also divided on the issue and some
had joined the "pro-democracy group". Despite the conflict,
lectures at the university have continued and admissions each
year proceeded normally.
Among those who are resigning were noted scholars such as Nico
L. Kana, dean of the post-graduate studies, Ariel Heryanto,
Sumarthana, Ferryanto and Bintoro Gunadi, names which at one time
helped make the university one of the finest and prestigious
education institutions in the country.
Some of these lecturers were now applying for teaching jobs at
universities in Central Java such, as the Soegiyapranoto
University in Semarang, the Sanata Darma University in Yogyakarta
and Muhammadiyah University in Surakarta and Yogyakarta.
Arief Budiman, who had originally been dismissed in 1994, told
The Jakarta Post that he was also looking for a new job and had
sent out applications to universities in the province as well as
abroad, including Malaysia and Singapore.
Arief, a lecturer of post graduate studies, quit his post
despite winning a legal battle at the Semarang State
Administrative Court last August which ruled that the
university's decision to dismiss him in 1994 was illegal.
(har/31)