The Academic Advisory Board of the CEU IAS stand in solidarity with CEU

                            April 1, 2017

 Zoltán Balog, Minister of Human Capacities

1054 Budapest, Akadémia utca 3. 
Phone: +36-1-795-1100 / +36-1-795-1200 
Fax: +36-1-795-0151 
E-mail: info@emmi.gov.hu

 Dear Minister Balog:

 As the members of the Academic Advisory Board of the CEU Institute for Advanced Study, we write with dismay and alarm in response to the planned law by the government of Hungary that endangers the CEU. We protest most vehemently the legislative threat to the CEU’s existence.

 We are a group of international scholars who respect and admire the academic excellence of the CEU, the great contributions that the Central European University has made to Hungarian and European scholarship, the cooperation it has nourished across countries through the training of Hungarian young people as well as those from across the region. The CEU is a valued member of the international academic community.

 The CEU is an institution that has added to Hungary’s reputation on the international stage. For 25 years it has supported Budapest’s and Hungary’s artistic, scholarly and economic growth, furthering the city’s and country’s long-established and powerful tradition of intellectual life.

 We protest the proposed legislative changes that would endanger the CEU. We call on the Hungarian government to withdraw the proposed legislation and enter into consultation with the leaders of the CEU. This will avert the damage this legislation might do to Hungary’s strong academic reputation and its relationships with European partners and with the United States.

 We stand in solidarity with the students and faculty of the Central European University.

Susan Gal

Mae and Sidney G. Metzl Distinguished Service Professor

Anthropology and Linguistics

University of Chicago, USA

Chair of the Academic Advisory Board

Markus Gabriel

University Professor 

Chair of Epistemology, Modern and Contemporary Philosophy

University of Bonn

Member of the Academic Board

Nikolas Jaspert

Professor of Medieval History

Institute of History

Center for the Study of European History and Culture

Heidelberg University

Member of the Academic Board

William O’Reilly

Associate Director, Centre for History and Economics

Lecturer and Fellow in History, University of Cambridge

Member of the Academic Advisory Board

Susan E. Reid

Professor of Cultural History

Loughborough University

Member of the Academic Board

Akos Rona-Tas

Professor and Chair of Sociology,

University of California, San Diego

Member of the Academic Advisory Board