ASOEE academics issue petition calling for stop to lawlessness

In a joint petition issued on Saturday, 100 academics at the Athens University of Economics and Business (ASOEE), which was the scene of a tense standoff between police and far-left demonstrators last Monday, called for “institutional changes and structured actions aimed at the smooth functioning and upgrading of the Greek state university.”

“In our daily lives we experience a climate of violence and lawlessness which is not only present at our university but at many other Greek universities,” the statement said.

“We firmly believe that universities should be open centers for learning and research based on the free exchange of ideas and the principle of democracy,” it added, expressing the academics’ opposition to “every illegal activity that takes place on university grounds.”