Igar Kuzminich: Lecturers should work without fear

Igar Kuzminich, the former lecturer of the Hrodna University, voiced his hope for corporate solidarity in the academic environment as well as for the stop of any pressure from the management.

Under conditions of the lack of academic freedoms the dismissals of the lecturers, similar to those happening in Hrodna university now can recur in any university in the country.

The lecturer of the law faculty in the Hrodna State University Igar Kuzminich preferred to quit his job voluntarily. He explained his decision by the pressure from the management, and wrote an open letter to the head of the district executive committee Siamion Shapira.

“Certainly, I expected some reaction; otherwise there wasn’t any sense to write this letter. However, no reaction came, - told Igar Kuzminich in the interview to the EuroBelarus information Service. – The letter is about the pressure from the management, which is rather not be exercised. But the dismissals of the lecturers make me think that this pressure is only increasing”.

The question with the dismissal of Igar Kuzminich is already solved: “Yes, I have quitted by now. The decision to quit and to write an open letter came to me about a month ago. I submitted my resignation paper first, and wrote an open letter afterwards”.

The lecturer has no regrets about what he’s done: “You know, I have no regrets that I’ve chosen this path. The decision is already made, and be as it may”. I think that for some time the pressure exercised upon the lecturers of Hrodna University will be increased. But eventually, the fact that this question got publicity will make the pressure go down”.

Igar Kuzminich hasn’t examined other cases that take place in the universities throughout the country: “Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about such cases. But now I understand that the situation can be the same in other places, too”. He also says that “he feels support of his colleagues and other people”.

The lecturer from Hrodna believes that it is corporate solidarity that is essential for the academic environment now: “In the given situation it is by far the most important thing for the moment. It is hard to speculate about the future. But of course, it should be a full-scale education reform. I think that now the question we should ask is how to make it so that the lecturers don’t feel real pressure and make them stay in the university? This issue is more urgent that the issue with the quality of higher education”.

Igar is well aware that his action was assessed differently by the people. He even admits that many people can’t imagine what to do after they voice their indignation in such drastic way: “I have been thinking about this decision a lot and I understood that I cannot decide what to do afterwards before I find an answer to my current situation; so I decided to quit in order to find what to go into later on. As if a person is not afraid and believes that everything will be good, so this is how it is going to be. I will devote myself to writing my dissertation and let’s see what comes from it. Still, I hope and wait that the lecturers will be able to work in the university without fear. That’s my chief expectation”.