Satya Wacana faces difficult registration

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)