Academics appeal against dismissals: — Strengthens a regime of fear
Brussels (Khrono): It is boiling among Danish academics after six scientific employees and two administrative employees at Denmark’s Institute for Pedagogy and Education (DPU), Aarhus University, received a notice of termination last week.
Well, it is warned that dismissals of the six academic staff may “reinforce a regime of fear that already exists in Danish universities”.
The warning is written inside the plug Stop the layoffs at DPU!where Aarhus University (AU) is encouraged to withdraw the notices of termination.
Shows academic freedom
Behind the call are academics from both Aarhus University and other Danish universities, among them prominent voices in Danish university debate.
– One cannot free oneself from the suspicion that this is a form of reprisal against a critical researcher in order to shut him up, says Heine Andersen, professor emeritus at the Department of Sociology at the University of Copenhagen, to Khrono.
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Andersen, a central voice in the Danish debate on academic freedom, is one of the academics behind the campaign.
The notices of termination are a serious blow to academic freedom, believes the Danish sociologist. He points out that one does not just want to fire six academic employees at once, but that one of those who have received notice is a high-profile researcher who has expressed criticism of his own management.
— A profiled person
As Khrono wrote about last week, is one of the six Thomas Aastrup Rømer, lecturer in educational philosophy at the Danish Institute for Pedagogy and Education (DPU), Aarhus University. When Rømer told about the termination notice on Facebook, it caused reactions.
Rømer himself believes that it is ideologically conditioned.
— No one attacks the professional productivity and skill, he is internationally recognized and very productive. He has also been important in the debate on education policy, which has represented a line that has gone against the dominant line. It is a profiled person who has expressed himself critically. It’s a warning that you shouldn’t do that, says Heine Andersen.
This makes it a special case, he believes.
— It is part of academic freedom that researchers must have the opportunity to participate in the debate, both public and internal, about university policy, he says.
Announced cut of 22 million
The management at DPU, for its part, points to the economy and demands for cuts in the budget. Head of department Claus Holm has indicated above Khrono that the staff has been reduced by a total of 19 employees. Originally it was announced in September that 15 million kroner would be saved and that as many as 22 positions could be cut.
Since then, DPU has, according to Omnibusuniversity newspaper at Aarhus University, entered into voluntary resignation agreements with eight academic employees, while three academic employees and one technical-administrative employee have chosen to resign from their positions at the institute.
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This gave DPU a saving of eight million. In addition, they must have saved another millions on rent and something on the income side. In other words, five million remained when the eight received notice of termination.
— Five million kroner for a large faculty is not a lot of money. It sounds strange that you shouldn’t be able to find other ways to save that money, says Andersen.
I think it’s terrible in several places
In the petition, it is said that it is “incomprehensible (…) that the AU dares to expose itself to the suspicion that the DPU is dismissing one of its most significant critics under the guise of economics”. It also says that “such a suspicion simply cannot be lived with by an honorary university like AU”.
“Researchers must be able to express themselves freely both about research results and university management without fear of reprisals”, it says in the call before warning against the strengthening of what they refer to as a “regime of fear”.
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— It is a terrible regime in many places, because of the autocratic form of management that has developed at Danish universities. People are afraid to speak out, says Heine Andersen and says that he himself has witnessed it at his own institute.
He describes a situation where “people look over their shoulders when talking about university matters”.
According to the petition, Rømer is not the only one among the six who have expressed criticism, in the petition it is stated that “critics of the local management make up at least half” of those who have received notice of termination.
Political interventions
Head of department Claus Holm told Khrono before the weekend that he cannot comment on planned dismissals of specific employees because it is a matter of personal matters. He maintains that the resignations constitute a loss to DPU.
— The economic background for this situation is that our faculty, Faculty of ARTS, Aarhus University, like other humanities faculties, is characterized by the many political interventions and the subsequent loss of income, which has most recently forced us to close down or move 348 study places. We have faced a number of income losses for many years, but now neither the faculty nor the institute can avoid significant savings on our salary expenses, said Holm about the financial backdrop.
As Khrono has written about several times, it has been high temperature around the forced relocation of study places at Danish universities, after the Danish Parliament adopted the plan “More and better educational opportunities throughout Denmark”.
According to Omnibus, employees at the institute are in shock over the termination notices.
— It’s like a grenade attack. A disaster. People are shaken, says Bjørg Kjær, associate professor at DPU and joint shop steward for academic staff, to Omnibus. She describes it as a loss for the institute, which not only affects those who have received termination notices, but also the colleagues.
It is now a consultation period, with the first 13 December for party consultation.