Free University gives Rector Madic 72 hours to resign
Professors celebrated the Student List victory, hung a flag on the Rectorate and announced removal proceedings if the rector does not leave within three days.
The Free University academic network of Novi Sad on Monday, October 26, demanded that Dejan Madic, rector of the University of Novi Sad, and his team resign within 72 hours. If they do not, university professors will start proceedings to remove them. The demand was announced outside the Rectorate, and a Free University flag was hung on the building itself.
Who said what outside the Rectorate?
Members of the academic network gathered in front of the building to celebrate the Student List victory in the parliamentary elections held on October 25. The results are not final until the Republic Electoral Commission announces them. The crowd chanted “Victory, victory” and “Free University,” embraced and lit red flares. Some Rectorate employees joined them. The exact time of the gathering and the size of the crowd were not published.
The 72-hour deadline was set by Aleksandar Sedlar, a professor at the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad. The demand did not stop at the rector: Sedlar also called for the resignation of the deans of all faculties that, as he put it, did not stand by their professors and students. He named five faculties that did stand with staff and students: the Faculty of Sciences, the Academy of Arts, the Faculty of Education, and the Faculty of Civil Engineering and the Faculty of Economics in Subotica.
Sedlar also mentioned the dismissals of Jelena Kleut and Vladimir Mihic from the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, and asked whether any other university had fired professors that way. He ended his address with questions and a message:
“Is there a single university with deans who abstain? Is Patrik Drid a moral authority at any other university except the one in Novi Sad? Our struggle for a free University continues, from today in a new way.”
Asked about Drid, according to reports by Autonomija and Beta, the crowd answered in unison: “No.” The reference is to Patrik Drid, whom sources describe as the dean of DIF.
What was said in the lecture hall?
After hanging the Free University flag on the Rectorate and carrying it into the building, the crowd entered the lecture hall. There they were addressed by dismissed professor Jelena Kleut, who recalled an earlier gathering in the same room:
“In this very space we gathered on December 21, 2024, as free professors, wanting to support our students. In this hall they also hounded people on September 5 last year, a coalition led by the rector and the DIF dean Drid.”
The sources do not explain which September 5 event Kleut had in mind, so we do not interpret it.
The rector’s response and the question of his title
None of the reports we read gives a response from Rector Madic or the Rectorate, or says that either was asked for comment. No response has been published.
The sources also disagree on Madic’s title. Today, like the headlines of Beta and Autonomija, they call him rector, while in the body of their texts Beta and Autonomija refer to him as dean of the University of Novi Sad. Madic is the rector of the University of Novi Sad.
The deadline is three days from Monday, and if the rector and his team do not resign, the professors have announced that they will start removal proceedings.
