Novi Sad Professors Back Student List, Pajtic Urges Unity

The Academic Plenum, a body that brings together professors and researchers from the University of Novi Sad and other higher education institutions in Vojvodina, has adopted a declaration of full support for students and the Student List. The declaration was adopted on September 2, and its text was made public by the portal 021 over the weekend. The document states that education in Serbia has been under systematic political, financial, institutional and media pressure from the authorities for almost two years.

On the same day, University of Novi Sad professor Bojan Pajtic spoke to the FoNet agency, saying the opposition should get behind the Student List rather than run in several separate columns in the election. In his assessment, none of the three opposition groupings currently planning to run independently will clear the threshold.

What the declaration actually says

The Academic Plenum’s declaration has three points. The first is full support for students and the Student List in their fight to preserve education, rebuild institutions and establish an accountable, democratic state. The second is the plenum members’ readiness to put their knowledge, expertise and organizational capacity at the disposal of students and the Student List. The third is a call on teachers, researchers, associates and all members of the academic community to take responsibility for the future of education and give active support to the students’ struggle.

In its explanation, the plenum states that the erosion of university autonomy, the devaluation of teaching and research work, and the pressure on students and staff are undermining the foundations of the education system and Serbia’s future.

“Students have become the most consistent defenders of the university through their persistence, solidarity and responsibility,” the Academic Plenum’s declaration reads.

The plenum says the eleventh hour has arrived for defending the integrity of the education system, university autonomy and the dignity of everyone who works and studies in education, warning that any further delay will deepen damage that future generations will have to bear.

“A Serbia without a free university is left without knowledge, and a state without knowledge is left without a future,” the Academic Plenum states.

Pajtic: the opposition must run as one list

Bojan Pajtic, a professor at the University of Novi Sad and former president of the Government of Vojvodina, also commented to FoNet on the failure of the Freedom and Justice Party and the People’s Movement of Serbia to reach an agreement on a joint run in the election. In his view, party members and municipal party boards must push for a single joint list regardless, since none of the three announced opposition groupings will clear the threshold on its own.

“The strongest opposition list, as far as I can tell, is somewhere around 4 to 5 percent,” Pajtic said, adding that it would fall below the threshold in that case.

His proposal is for all opposition parties to run together in the election, but with no party leader on the list, which he says would give voters proof that the parties are fighting for a shared goal rather than for positions. Still, Pajtic said the most productive solution would be for the opposition as a whole to back the Student List.

“It is completely unacceptable for them to run in several separate columns,” Pajtic said, calling such a move reckless and irresponsible at a time when, as he put it, the country’s youth is being exposed to violence.

Pajtic believes an atmosphere has formed in which some voters who have previously backed opposition parties would nonetheless vote for the Student List in the election, seeing it as the largest and strongest alternative to the government.

A 250-name list waiting on the election call

The Student List, according to announcements so far, has 250 names and has been ready for months. Students Andjela Prodanovic and Marko Djenadic said in late August that the list would only be published once the election is officially called. Under that plan, a group of 10 to 15 citizens would formally file the candidacy, collecting voter signatures and submitting them to the Republic Election Commission.

Neither of those two steps has been taken so far, since the election has not yet been called. President Aleksandar Vucic has announced that the call will follow on September 9 or 10, with voting set for October 25. Until then, it remains an open question whether the opposition parties, backed by part of the academic community gathered around the declaration, will opt for a joint run with the Student List or for separate candidacies that, by Pajtic’s math, would leave none of them above the threshold.

Srpske vesti reported a year ago on a march to the Novi Sad campus marking the anniversary of September 5, at a time when the student movement from Novi Sad was only beginning to grow into the broader academic and political issue that the Academic Plenum’s declaration represents today.