Four universities agree to campus security
Four major universities have so far agreed to accept a protection team that will help stamp out chronic lawlessness at the country’s campuses.
The teams will be introduced in the University of Athens, the National Technical University of Athens, the Athens University of Economics and Business and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), while the University of Patras may also join the list.
The so-called University Institutions Protection Team (OPPI) will have police powers, receive special training and wear a special uniform. Its officers will patrol the premises of the institution and alert police in case of violence, from where they will receive instructions on how to act.
Kathimerini understands that the leadership of the Ministry of Education is adamant that the members of the OPPI should answer to the Hellenic Police (ELAS) and the Ministry of Citizens’ Protection, and not the university.
The relevant regulation, which is ready to be submitted, provides for the placement of 1,000 people in the universities of Athens and Thessaloniki where incidents of violence are more acute.
Universities will also have a security service whose members will be responsible for supervising and guarding their premises and control who enters the campus.
“The way the universities will organize their security service – [either] with their own employees, a security company or whatever – is their own issue,” a senior official of the Ministry of Education told kathimerini on Friday.
