CEU Weekly is now celebrating its 50th issue as an independent voice on campus. To mark the occasion, CEU President and Rector John Shattuck, who has been a long time supporter of our student oriented approach to journalism, agreed to sit down with me to discuss CEU and the continual redefining of the university’s mission and goals.
President Shattuck, thank you for agreeing to speak with me. I would like to start by asking if you can tell me about the Frontiers of Democracy Initiative, a total re-imagining of CEU’s mission in the region.
As you know, CEU came out of the changes in 1989 and 1991. Its original mission was to revive intellectual freedom in the region of Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in the social sciences and humanities. CEU was central in the changes that took place during that period and was very much involved in actually training people to participate in and shape what was going on: a push toward greater openness, freedom of speech, the rule of law and other basic elements of democracy, non-discrimination, and support for minorities, particularly Roma. Today, these same topics are once again under debate in many of the places our students come from, with there being so many differences of opinion about what democracy is today, what type of democracy we want, what are the values of democracy, etc. So, CEU is going to be a center for debate on these kind of issues by holding lectures series and conferences on the meaning of democracy in the 21stcentury, or on regional issues like what's happening currently in Ukraine, or in Russia or Hungary, as well as on general issues of philosophy—what do we mean by democracy and what are its values? And we are inviting participants from both government and from civil society, so there will be genuine debate. And that is what the mission of CEU is today—its a very exciting time to be here.
Are there any sort of short or medium term goals for this path that CEU is taking and will academic freedom, for example, be affected by the changes?
We do not have operational goals, policy wise, that is not the point, but we are trying to stimulate critical thinking about these very broad issues involving the future of democracy in the world today.
On a practical note, in terms of admissions, for example, I have noticed a shift from focusing on students coming from Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans towards opening up to the bigger world. Is this part of the CEU's new mission?
Yes, absolutely. One of the major changes at CEU over the last number of years is that the university has become more global, we now draw students from 130 countries, and, faculty from 35 countries. We are increasingly recruiting in Africa, Asia, even in Latin America. We do that because we are committed to diversity. There is no university in the world that is as diverse as CEU. A big part of our mission is to have no dominant nationality. CEU is an example of what real diversity in the world is all about.
What about hiring more ‘household’ names and investing more in existing faculty research?
We have a number of very well known visiting scholars. For example, in a few weeks Joseph Stiglitz, one of the world's most famous economists, will give some lectures on campus. Also, our resident faculty is outstanding and highly respected. In fact, the strength of our faculty, particularly the research they pursue, has resulted in CEU being ranked among the top-100 universities in social sciences from the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2014-2015.
How does the campus redevelopment project fit into the redesigning of CEU's mission?
We want to be a physical presence as much as an intellectual presence—we want to be a place where we can have big conferences and large gatherings of people. Through these redevelopment projects the whole university will be brought together into one place. We now are somewhat scattered with the Business School and the Department of Cognitive Science being in other parts of the city. We also have a couple of other buildings in other parts of downtown Budapest. We just recently finished the planning process and approval by the authorities, so we are now hoping to be able to start the actual construction this fall.
How long is the whole project supposed to last and are the deadlines met and everything is in accordance with the scheduling?
Yes. There are three phases of the project. The first phase includes the two buildings at Nador 13 and Nador 15; there will be a larger building, a new auditorium, a new library and new facilities for faculties in the building complex. That will go on for two years. The second phase of the project will be the rest of the campus, going all the way out to the Oktober 6 street, developing more space and more ways of bringing the School of Public Policy and the Business School closer to the rest of the university. The third phase, a light redevelopment, will be of the Nador 9 building. The whole process will take about five years.
The construction is supposed to start in November?
It is supposed to start before the end of the calendar year, yes. I should mention, just because I know your readers will be interested, all the faculty and staff who were in the two buildings that are being redeveloped now have been relocated to rental spaces near the campus. Faculty, staff and students should not be severely affected by the fact that we are doing construction.
Obviously, the beginning takes a little bit of readjusting...
That's right, it's adjustment. For example, I will be going and visiting all of the new spaces where people are relocated, to see how it's all going, I will do that in the next two weeks.
Shifting the conversation a bit towards Hungary, does CEU feel threatened or pressured in any ways by the recent developments concerning freedom of speech, the attacks on NGOs?
No, I think CEU is a major asset in Hungary. The Hungarian government has characterized us as an international asset and we have not been affected directly in terms of our operations. We are operating autonomously and freely within the framework of the law, which we obviously follow. We are working with the government on issues that are important to CEU as we move along. So I don't think this is a time for CEU to feel any particular difficulty and has a perfectly constructive relationship with the Hungarian government. We differ with the government on many policy, but as far as CEU is concerned, we are accepted as an international asset.
And CEU will continue to have this sort of apolitical, neutral position?
Yes. The university itself should not be a political party. By definition, a university should be a place to study and to think critically about all types of issues, so that is what we will continue to be.
Would CEU be ready to resist and self-govern itself in a hostile environment?
CEU is following its mission precisely by being in such an environment, in that sense. We should be in Budapest and we are very pleased to be in Budapest and not somewhere else which may seem more congenial in some way, politically. CEU is certainly prepared to be a strong projector of its academic freedom and autonomy. We will receive students who come to us to study within a framework of academic freedom and will defend that, absolutely, in any way, even now.
Yes, that is the reason why I am here as well. Thank you very much for speaking with me.
Vlad Levente Viski
Political Science, Romania
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