PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS PETITION TO YOUR CONTACTS AND NETWORKS!

Dear friends and colleagues,

I am sure you have heard of the turmoil Greek Universities are going through the last 50 days. Approximately 40% of the administrative staff of eight large Greek Universities including the University of Athens are suspended due to austerity measures. My University and all its activities and logistics, from financial handling to the electricity safety in the buildings and heating depend on the already very few UoA employees (3.5 per 100 students) and the same holds true for the other Greek Universities as well.

Reducing administrative staff by 40% will only result in non-functional academic institutions.

Standing by the Greek Universities by signing the petition indicated later in this message will help prevent this ‘impossible’ situation from happening.

I sincerely thank you for your time and your support in advance.

Best wishes,

Kostas Mylonas

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Dr. Kostas Mylonas
Associate Professor in Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology
IACCP Executive Committee Regional Representative (Europe)

Department of Psychology
The University of Athens
15784, ILISIA,
Athens, Greece

Tel.: 0030210 7277584
Fax.: 0030210 7277534 (attn. Dr. Mylonas)
e-mail: kmylonas@psych.uoa.gr

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-cutbacks-in-greek-universities/sign.html

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Petition:

Huit universités grecques sont forcées de suspendre toute activité suite à la décision unilatérale du ministère de l’éducation nationale de mettre en disponibilité 1349 employés de leurs administrations. Les universités concernées sont les suivantes:

Université d’Athènes, Université de Thessalonique, Ecole Polytechnique d’Athènes, Université de Gestion, Economie et Management d’Athènes, Université de Crète, Université de Patras, Université de Ioannina, et Université de Thessalie.

L’impact sur l’enseignement, la recherche, la santé et la coopération internationale est sans précédent. La menace qui pèse sur l’enseignement supérieur suite aux mesures d’austérité draconiennes imposées par l’Union Européenne suscite une grande inquiétude en Grèce et au-delà de ses frontières.

En tant que scientifiques, universitaires, étudiants ou autres, nous appelons l’Union Européenne et le gouvernement grec à protéger le statut et le personnel des universités grecques, afin que celles-ci puissent continuer leur mission d’éducation et de recherche, l’importance de ces institutions étant plus vitale que jamais. Elles sont et doivent rester les foyers de pensée critique au sein d’une Europe aux structures sociales érodées par des coupures massives et dans laquelle plane l’ombre d’un extrémisme dangereux.

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Text in English

Eight universities in Greece (University of Athens, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki the Athens Polytechnic and University of Economics and Business as well as the University of Crete, Ioannina, Thessaly and Patras) have been forced to halt all activities as a result of Greek ministry of education proposals to suspend unilaterally 1349 university administrative workers.

The impact on teaching, research, clinical work and international collaboration is unparalleled and the threat to higher education in Greece as a result of stringently imposed EU austerity measures is a cause of great concern far beyond Greece’s shores.

As academics, university workers, students and others, we call on the EU and the Greek government to protect the status and staff of Greek universities, to ensure that they remain able to engage in education and research and to recognize that these institutions are more important now than ever.

They are and must remain beacons of critical thinking in a Europe whose social structures are being eroded by massive cutbacks and over which the shadow of far-right extremism looms.

Sign the petition