EUA suspends membership of Belarus university
It looks like we’ve got the first serious reaction from European structures regarding that student which was expelled from BSEU:
EUA suspends Belarus State Economic University membership:
Following the decision by the Belarus State Economic University to expel a fourth year student, Ms Tatsiana Khoma, for participating in a meeting of the National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB) without the permission of the university, EUA has suspended the university’s EUA membership, and calls upon its members to cease all cooperation with the institution.
On 25 November, EUA President, Professor Georg Winckler, on behalf of EUA’s individual and collective members, addressed a letter to the Rector of the university, Professor Shimov (Shymau), when it was learned that Ms Khoma had been threatened with expulsion as a result of her activities on behalf of national and European students. In this letter, Professor Winckler expressed concern at these developments, referring to the fundamental values and principles of the Association enshrined in the 1988 Magna Charta Universitatum, which include the duty of each university to “ensure that its students’ freedoms are safeguarded”.
Despite this letter, Ms Khoma was expelled on Friday, 25 November, and ejected immediately from the university dormitory where she was living. On 29 November, Professor Winckler wrote again to Professor Shimov (Shymau), insisting that this decision be revoked immediately, and stating that if this were not done that EUA would have no option but to suspend the Belarus State Economic University membership of EUA until the university is able to guarantee the common values and principles of European universities.
Professor Shimov (Shymau) has not answered these letters, and has instead issued a statement on the university website that the expulsion of Ms Khoma was justified by her violation of university regulations…
December 5th, 2005 at 5:07 pm
Geez, this Shimov needs to get run over by a truck. Perhaps that will re-orden his brain properly. Great move by the ESIB to suspend their membership and ask for further support. Atleast 7778 disagree with BSEU’s decision. I’m actually not sure if reinstatement of Ms Khoma would be beneficial for her… quite positive that the school’s board will do everything possible to ruin her education. Most likely she will be accepted by a different university, and allowed to continue her studies there.
December 5th, 2005 at 5:52 pm
> this Shimov needs to get run over by a truck
He’s actually a father of my colleague, and I’m on friendly terms with him. I didn’t ask him about his father though, because I don’t want to make him feel uncomfortable. Besides, it’s really not his business: you can’t take blame for something your parents do.
December 6th, 2005 at 6:41 am
Well, you know, I bet he doesn’t feel very good these days. It’s sort of a feeling of being squeezed from both sides. Once in a while, I pity those regime’s midgets, puny puppets of the president who put their own lives, reputation and future at stake when they violate international laws, people’s rights, moral laws, if you will, to execute the dictator’s orders. I don’t think Shymau is that stupid to assume Lukashenka will last for ages.
It’s really interesting to kind of try to penetrate into the mind of a person like Shymau. Heart attacks may happen when the heat is becoming unbearable. I’d wanna check his pulse… Sorry if I seem to be too sardonic.
December 6th, 2005 at 8:39 am
Wow! Small world it is… sorry for saying that.. still… it is atleast “rude” not to reply to official letters and to issue such statements in public.
December 11th, 2005 at 12:09 am
shimov’s reply is now on the front page of http://www.bseu.by/
December 11th, 2005 at 2:07 pm
Hmmmm I dunno but… is it just me or is that a coverup letter? Saying the large amount of students being refused to go abroad.. is due to visa requests being rejected by foreign bodies? Visa requests never get rejected unless there’s a good reason to do so. If a bum like me is able to aquire a visa, surely an outstanding student can too? Saying that this rule is to protect students (conveniently using the French riots as example). This amendment DOES still fall under a violation of both student and human rights (unable to find the exact paragraph again at this time, sorry). I do not see anywhere that he offered her reinstatement, other than on the BSEU page. Even if he did, August 2006 is a LONG time from now. Long enough for people to forget about this so things can be covered up without problem.
A number of statements, replies and actions are available at http://www.esib.org/ and http://www.eua.be/ including the letters sent to Professor Shimov.