Satya Wacana faces difficult registration

SALATIGA, Central Java (JP): The rift-ridden Satya Wacana Christian University opened admission of new students yesterday amid disgruntled teachers' threats of continued strike.

Controversial Rector John JOI Ihalauw told a news conference that the university would admit 1,059 new students this academic year, which starts in July.

Academics opposed to his leadership have vowed to continue striking, saying they are not responsible for new students until the dispute is settled.

Sumartana, a senior academic who represents those opposing Ihalauw, says seven of the university's eight schools have refused to admit new students in order to dramatize their demands.

The Pro-Democracy Group, which opposes the rector, is demanding that their fired colleagues be reinstated and that a new election for the post of rector be held.

The schools of knowledge which reject admission of new students are agriculture, engineering, science and mathematics, law, biology, theology and pedagogy. The school of economy is the only school which refuses to join the boycott.

Dozens of teachers, some of them senior lecturers, have been on strike in protest against last year's dismissal of their colleague Arief Budiman and against what they call Ihalauw's "undemocratic" election.

Ihalauw said that parents have no reason to doubt the university's commitment to providing the best education possible to their children despite the prolonged conflict.

But at the same time, Ihalauw's critics are calling on parents to "reconsider" their plans to send their children to Satya Wacana on the grounds that the there is no guarantee the learning-teaching process will go on as expected because of the conflict. (har/pan)