Lecturers threaten to quit over Arief's firing
SALATIGA, Central Java (JP): A massive demonstration over the dismissal of renowned scholar Arief Budiman virtually crippled the Satya Wacana Christian University yesterday.
In the latest maneuver, 16 professors with doctorate degrees threatened to resign unless the rector and chief of the foundation managing the university step down or reinstate Arief.
Hundreds of students and teachers staged a demonstration on the prestigious university campus for the tenth day in a row to press their demands.
Only the schools of economics and law did not boycott the daily university activities, though the number of students attending the classes was very small.
Another twist occurred yesterday as scores of economics students, former supporters of the controversial rector John JOI Ihalauw, joined the protesters to dramatize the demand for his resignation and Arief's reinstatement.
"We didn't join the demonstrations before not because we didn't sympathize with your cause but because we were intimidated by lecturers," economics student Krisna told a cheering crowd.
Protesting lecturers said they plan to boycott classes and resign if their demands go unheeded.
Unmoved by the storms of protest, rector Ihalauw distributed an open letter to students and teachers, pleading with them to stop protesting and resume classes. But the call went largely unnoticed.
He criticized lecturers who took part in demonstrations and boycotted classes. "Those (teachers) participating in the protest do not understand academic etiquette nor educational law," he said in his letter.
"If he closes his eyes to popular demand, I am afraid his appeal for calm will be useless," said Dr. Rukmadi Warsito, dean of the school of agriculture.
Petition
Law students issued an eight-point petition in which they demanded that the university's foundation rescind Arief's dismissal and Ihalauw's election.
The university's rector and foundation chief has said they fired Arief for having ignored various disciplinary warnings issued since 1988. Arief's latest offense, after the final warning issued in March, was writing an article in a Jakarta daily critical of the university's management.
The tension between Arief and university leaders stems from his opposition to Ihalauw's election as the new rector this year. He, along with several senior lecturers, maintains that the election process was undemocratic and manipulated by the foundation for Ihalauw's favor.
Demonstrators no longer gathered in front of the rector's office but instead fixed posters to his doors.
Not all students are happy with the continuing protests, claiming the demonstrations have disrupted classes. Some expressed their concern in posters, also hung on the rectorate office's walls.
Officials at the Salatiga manpower office said yesterday the university's leadership had notified them of Arief's dismissal but that they could not decide anything because they still awaited the sociologist's defense. (har/pan)