Senate accused of not representing students
Senate accused of not representing students
SEMARANG: Representatives of students at the state-run
University of Diponegoro are calling on Rector Muladi to disband
the present students' senate which they say does not truly
represent the interest of students.
The students presented their demand during a meeting with
Muladi on Saturday, pointing out that the senate has simply
become an extension of the university's bureaucracy.
The senate and its members have been coopted by the system,
they said, and it is not an independent body that could fight for
the interests of the students it is supposed to represent.
They pointed out that the formation of the senate is regulated
by the 1989 National Education Law and a number of decrees by the
minister of education and culture issued in 1990, which together
virtually "marginalizes" the position of students vis-a-vis the
university administrators.
The government in the 1970s and 1980s barred the establishment
of student senates at universities because they had been heavily
politicized by its elected members. The senates were allowed in
the late 1980s but under strict conditions, including making its
members subordinate to the rectors.
The government also barred any politicking in universities,
saying that any students wanting to enter the political arena
should join one of the political parties and not conduct their
political activism in campuses.
The Diponegoro students said the senate rules deprive students
of any political rights in campuses and that senate members are
not democratically elected but rather were selected and appointed
by rectors.
They said the university should disband the current senate and
allow students to form their own body which would be more
democratic.
Muladi in response ruled out the likelihood of granting their
demands, pointing out that the establishment of the senate at the
university is governed by the rules, for which a rector does not
have the capacity to change.
Their demands for changes should instead be addressed to the
House of Representatives or the Minister of Education and
Culture, he said. (har/emb).