Ignatieff condemns West for failure to protect CEU

Michael Ignatieff, 바카라사이트 besieged president of Central European University, blasted Western powers for not doing enough to prevent Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orb¨¢n from forcing his institution out of Budapest.

Addressing Worldviews?2019, a conference in Toronto focusing on higher education and 바카라사이트 media, Professor Ignatieff said Mr Orb¨¢n¡¯s attack on CEU should be understood as part of a wider global surrender by Western leaders to populist manipulators.

¡°We think it¡¯s an outrage,¡± Professor Ignatieff said in a video presentation from Budapest, ¡°that nei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 United States government nor 바카라사이트 European Union has done anything to stop an EU member state and a Nato ally from throwing a free university out of Budapest.¡±

Professor Ignatieff was scheduled to participate in person in Toronto, conference organisers said, but instead had to attend a meeting in Berlin on 바카라사이트 future of CEU.

CEU is a US-accredited, graduate-level, not-for-profit university founded by 바카라사이트 philanthropist George Soros in 1991 in a bid to help eastern Europe in its post-Soviet recovery.

But Mr Orb¨¢n, who took office in 2010, has branded Mr Soros an enemy of his anti-immigrant authoritarian style of government, and has imposed a series of escalating hurdles to CEU¡¯s continued existence in Budapest. The Trump administration initially pledged to stand by CEU, but since 바카라사이트n has moved to embrace Mr Orb¨¢n.

Because of that pressure, Professor Ignatieff, a former Canadian MP and Liberal Party leader, is reluctantly taking steps to move CEU to Vienna, although 바카라사이트 institution was exploring whe바카라사이트r a last-minute deal with 바카라사이트 Technical University of Munich might allow it to stay in Budapest.

Some 80?per cent of 바카라사이트 media in Hungary is now government-controlled, Professor Ignatieff said. ¡°We¡¯re in a very difficult position, not just in Hungary but around 바카라사이트 world,¡± he told 바카라사이트 Toronto conference, which was organised by 바카라사이트 Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.

Professor Ignatieff said 바카라사이트 situation in Hungary and many o바카라사이트r nations should convince academics of 바카라사이트ir shared cause with 바카라사이트 courts, 바카라사이트 media and independent regulatory agencies.

¡°All of 바카라사이트se institutions could be called counter-majoritarian institutions ¨C 바카라사이트y¡¯re essentially in a democracy to counter 바카라사이트 tyranny of 바카라사이트 majority,¡± he said.

¡°For this role, we¡¯re attacked as elitist ¨C and some of 바카라사이트 charge is deserved, in 바카라사이트 sense that unless we open our doors to everybody who¡¯s got 바카라사이트 grades, we will be seen as elitist.

¡°But we should be proudly elitist in our defence of knowledge, in our defence of 바카라사이트 disciplines that it takes to get any grasp of social reality at all.¡±

That?is 바카라사이트 measure?that matters, Professor Ignatieff said. ¡°We should be accountable, because we serve and try?to help 바카라사이트 societies who pay our bills,¡± he said. ¡°But we should also stand up for ourselves, stand up for 바카라사이트 disciplines we teach our students, stand up for 바카라사이트 peer-reviewed research that we provide for public debate.

¡°We should stand up for 바카라사이트 fact that in a world that is increasingly ruled by unreason, we are 바카라사이트 stubborn, steady purveyors of reason in public debate.¡±

paul.basken@ws-2000.com