Ján Vavro is still the dean of the Industrial Technology Faculty (FPT) in the town of Púchov - in Trenčín Region - despite his supposed dismissal by his superior, rector of Alexander Dubček University in Trenčín (TnUAD) Ivan Kneppo, Education Minister Dušan Čaplovič informed the TASR newswire on Tuesday, October 23.
According to Čaplovič, Kneppo on Friday promised he would return to Vavro all his powers by Tuesday. He did not keep his word, however, and he failed to attend a scheduled meeting on Tuesday in Púchov at which the matter was to be discussed, said the minister. "I had known [Kneppo] as a quality scientist, and I had thought that if he offered his hand to me and other members of the academic community, he would keep his word. It's his word that makes a man. His fleeing was cowardly, however, and he isn't a man in this any more," said Čaplovič, adding that Kneppo's written apology was incomprehensible.
The minister stated that democratic principles must be observed in the academic environment, and only the academic senate can recall a faculty dean. Čaplovič announced that he will ask the rector's conference, the university council and the university student council for their opinion on the matter. "If two of these respected bodies give their consent, I'll commission a different rector to head Alexander Dubček University in Trenčín," said the minister.
The FPT has been involved in a dispute with Kneppo for some time over what both leading figures and students at FPT claim was his unlawful removal of FPT dean Ján Vavro. The conflict escalated earlier in October when the FPT website was shut down and students from FPT barricaded themselves inside the faculty building in protest.
(Source: TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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