Professors fear reprisals if they call for uni sanctions

New legislation providing for a police force on Greek university campuses has been loudly denounced by the opposition, which, among other things, says the institutions’ own regulations provide for sanctions for a series of crimes and misdemeanors within their premises.

But university professors counter that fear of reprisals has led to a near universal lack of sanctions. Students choking a professor, keeping a rector hostage by bricking up his door while he was in his office or dumping trash in another office, all got away with it.

Professors also say that, without radical changes in the administration, the new setup will be undermined from within.

“It is usually the new professors, fresh from teaching in institutions abroad, who show a zeal to prosecute malefactors without realizing the pushback such a decision would get from student organizations,” an Athens University professor said.