BSU rector refuses to reinstate Tatsiana Shaputska at university
The official ignored appeals of the EU and signatures of students in support of the of the Young Front spokesperson.
Tatsiana Shaputska, press secretary of the Young Front, received a denial to her motion to be reinstated as a student of the second year of the law faculty, from the BSU rector Siarhei Ablameika.
‘The Law On Higher Education, the BSU Statute and Internal regulations define rights and responsibilities of a student, for violation of which a student is disciplined.
Fulfilling the demands of the curriculum and the academic program, as well as the good performance and grade point average do not make a student free from performing other duties…” ‘the letter of the rector reads.
Tatsiana Shaputska, in her turn, says that ‘Mr Ablameika for some reason does not say that performance is a priority thing for a student – university is primarily an educational institution’.
‘Besides, the rector forgets about item 6.7 of Internal regulations, according to which when applying disciplinary measures, graveness of the deed is to be taken into account, situation in which it had been performed, previous performance and discipline. The rector has violated this paragraph and ordered the punishment which obviously inappropriate for the violation in the form of going abroad for three days,’ Ms. Shaputska said.
However, as said by the activist, the thing that disappointed her most in the letter of Siarhei Ablameika was his ignoring hundreds of signatures of the BSU students in support of the motion.
‘What kind of relations between the administration of the university and students there could be, when the rector ignores the opinion of students? Mr. Ablameika seems not to be interested by students and educational process, but only his position,’ the girl concluded.
Bear in mind that Tatsiana Shaputska was expelled from the law faculty of Belarusian State University after she had taken part in the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in Brussels on 16-17 November. Despite the addresses of European diplomats to Belarusian authorities, it was impossible to resolve the situation in favor of the student, who was accused of prosaic absence from studies. Even the promise of the chairman of the Belarusian Trade Union Federation Leanid Kozik to stage the picket in support of Shaputska hadn’t helped, though later he refused to keep his promise.
Tatsiana Shaputska represented the Belarusian civil society at the Eastern Partnership Forum in Brussels. She met with the leadership of European countries and the EU, including Carl Bildt, the Foreign Minister of Sweden, holding EU presidency, and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy. During the forum, when reports about the threat of the activist’s expulsion appeared, Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Carl Bildt, as well as other high-ranking participants of the Forum assured participants of the event that they would follow the developments concerning Tatsiana Shaputska.
