Many of our listeners may have heard about the troubles Central European University has been going through for almost two years. CEU Medieval Radio feels we should share what is happening to our home, as well as assure listeners that both CEU and the Medieval Radio are going strong and will continue to do so.
CEU released the following statement summarizing these events:
On April 4, 2017, without consulting with CEU, the Hungarian Parliament passed amendments to the Higher Education Law of Hungary that effectively forces CEU to cease operating the way it has been for 25 years. On April 10, President Janos Ader signed the bill into law, disregarding arguments by prominent Hungarian law professors calling the law unconstitutional, and the demand of tens of thousands of demonstrators who took to the streets in Budapest calling on Ader to reject the bill.
Since the tabling of the legislation, CEU has received a flood of support from international and domestic academic circles including 19 Nobel prize laureates, EU Commissioner Carlos Moedas, the president of Germany, the presidents of Harvard, Duke, NYU, Princeton, Yale, Oxford and several others, the International Association of Universities and thousands of researchers and professional organizations worldwide, as well as students and colleagues in Hungary, among them the President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, rectors of major universities and large student organizations. The United States Department of State has expressed its clear support for CEU and for academic freedom, as has the government of Germany. The European Commission has called for a review of the legislation, which raises concerns about a core European value.
For the statement and more about the heartening support CEU has received, please see: CEU Summary and Support.
Most recently, on December 3, 2018 ,CEU released the following statement:
Because Hungary’s Lex CEU forbids Central European University (CEU) to accept new students after January 1, 2019, CEU is forced to announce today that it will launch all U.S.-accredited degree programs in Vienna in September 2019. It is making the announcement today in order to guarantee that it can recruit students in time for the beginning of the next academic year.
Over the course of 20 months, CEU has taken all steps to comply with Hungarian legislation, launching educational activities in the U.S. that were certified by U.S. authorities. Nevertheless, the Hungarian government has made it clear it has no intention of signing the agreement that it negotiated over a year ago with the State of New York, which would ensure CEU’s operations in Budapest for the long term.
“CEU has been forced out,” said CEU President and Rector Michael Ignatieff. “This is unprecedented. A U.S. institution has been driven out of a country that is a NATO ally. A European institution has been ousted from a member state of the EU.”
The government has never even tried to pretend that there were academic grounds for their actions. The US Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the New York State Education Department and the Hungarian Accreditation Committee have all certified the excellence of CEU’s academic programs.
Arbitrary eviction of a reputable university is a flagrant violation of academic freedom. It is a dark day for Europe and a dark day for Hungary. “The government has done an injustice toward its own citizens – Michael Ignatieff said – the hundreds of Hungarians who work and study at CEU, and thousands of Hungarian alumni and their families.”
The university retains accreditation as a Hungarian university and will seek to continue teaching and research activity in Budapest as long as possible.
CEU thanks everyone for the support it has received and observes with dismay that the government of Hungary refused to listen to the representations they received from members of the US Congress, the Office of the Governor of the State of New York, the Venice Commission, members of the European Parliament, leaders of universities around the world, over two dozen Nobel Laureates, but above all, the thousands of Hungarians from all walks of life who demonstrated peacefully and called for ‘free universities in a free country.’
CEU is registered in Austria to issue U.S.-accredited degrees. It will welcome all incoming students to its Vienna location in September 2019. Enrolled students will complete their studies in Budapest.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Leon Botstein, declared “the City of Vienna and the federal government of Austria have welcomed us with open arms as part of their commitment to academic freedom and research. Despite our consternation at being forced to leave Budapest, we are excited to offer our students the opportunity to study in another great Central European city.”
CEU is a graduate institution accredited in the U.S. and Hungary with 1200 master’s and doctoral students in the humanities, social sciences, business, law, cognitive and network science. The university employs 770 staff and faculty and contributes 25 million Euros (8 billion forints) to the Hungarian economy each year in taxes, pension and health contributions, and payments to suppliers. It is Central Europe’s most successful applicant for competitive European Union research grant funding, with more than 19 million Euros awarded for the 2018-2026 period.
For the statement, additional information, and a Hungarian version see: CEU Press Release 3/12/18
You can share your solidarity with CEU on social media by using: #istandwithCEU
Thank you to all our listeners and we look forward to bringing you great medieval music, news, and podcasts for many years to come!
CEU Medieval Radio 
Is CEU Medieval Radio still broadcasting? I can’t get it to play.
No music station of the era is as good as yours! Thanx for getting back to operating. I hope the move to Vienna leads to great success. So sad what’s happening in this world.
Thanks so much for you kind words, we really appreciate it 🙂