On March 28th 2017 the Hungarian ruling party, Fidesz, tabled amendments to existing higher education laws. These laws address irregularities in existing legislation, but in reality they are an attempt to eject one institution - Central European University - from the country.
On Sunday, April 2nd 2017, 10,000 people protested in the streets of Budapest. On Monday, April 3rd, the Government refined the bill, making it more punitive, and announced that they would fast-track the legislation through Parliament. The morning of April 4th it was voted on and passed. It is impossible for CEU to comply with the new legislation.
Like many other American universities (see Wikipedia), CEU has one physical location, but two identities: it is an American and a Hungarian institution. The new legislation states, in effect, that to continue its dual identity, CEU must also conduct its activities in the US, and that the dual identity must be ratified by a *federal* agreement between Hungary and the US. Yet, the US law gives authority for higher education to the individual states. Federal agreement is not possible: it would likely be in violation of the US constitution. (CEU already has the relevant legal authorisation from the state of New York.) So, in short: the new law says that CEU can only continue to exist in Hungary if the US does something against its own constitution, *and* CEU sets up a campus in the US - all by the 1st January 2018.
This is clearly impossible for CEU to comply with and it targets only one institution in Hungary.
As of April 4th, CEU's operation in Budapest will be illegal on January 1st 2018, eight months from now. This is a sudden and direct attempt to eject from the country an academic institution that has done nothing wrong and has always been in full compliance with Hungarian law. It is a direct attack on academic freedom and free speech. This is happening *inside the EU*. Protests have been taking place outside the Hungarian Parliament during the past week.
Current efforts are focused on getting the Hungarian president to veto the bill, on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. However, even if these efforts are successful, that would in reality only delay things: Fidesz would come back with different legislation. Longer term, Fidesz must be put under political pressure.
This bill is discriminative and serves purely political goals against democracy and academic freedom.
There is at least one way you can support the CEU now, wherever you are:
- Join the protest and share this information with all your contacts. Here is our event on Facebook:
- Share this information on social media with the hashtags #IstandwithCEU or #BCNstandswithCEU
- Sign the petition on change.org, which already has 50,000 signatories: https://www.change.org/p/hungarian-national-assembly-save-the-central-european-university
- More information on how you can offer support: https://www.ceu.edu/category/istandwithceu
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