2004 press releases

Heads of Diplomatic Missions Express Concern over Situation with European Humanities University (January 30, 2004)

On January 23, 2004, U.S. Ambassador George Krol and other ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Minsk met with Mr. Alexander Radkov, Minister of Education of the Republic of Belarus. Participants in the meeting included the Ambassador of France, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania, Ambassador of Poland, Charge d'Affaires of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Charge d'Affaires of the Federal Republic of Germany, Charge d'Affaires of Italy, Charge d'Affaires of the Republic of Latvia, Charge d'Affaires of Slovakia, Counselor of the Embassy of the Czech Republic, Consul of the Republic of Estonia, and the Head of the Minsk Office of the Embassy of Sweden in Moscow.

The reason for the meeting at the Ministry of Education, which had been requested repeatedly since December 15, 2003, was to discuss the ambassadors' bewilderment with Mr. Radkov's statement at the Ministry of Education board meeting on December 4, 2003, in which he claimed that by inviting foreign lecturers the Minsk-based European Humanities University turns itself into a "walk-through courtyard."

The heads of the diplomatic missions said they could not understand why Belarusian higher education's policy of being open to the world should be interpreted this way. They stressed that they consider an open-door policy, which they have been actively supporting, to be necessary for the future of Belarus. They also noted that they consider EHU's existence to be a symbol of Belarus' attempt to be open and cooperate with Western countries, and that, for many university administrators in the United States and Europe, Professor Anatoliy Mikhailov's work as rector is the best assurance for fruitful activity and independence of the university.