What is happening to the Nationalism Studies Program

Written by Tamila Norkulova, Dec 2024

Although the academic year for newly arrived students has already begun, on September 12, CEU announced the suspension of student recruitment for the program in pursuit of systematic financial efficiency. Since the 1990s, the Nationalism Studies Program has been accepting students who aim to study sensitive social and political issues such as ethnic conflicts, self-determination and protection of minorities.

To save the program, students and alumni separately launched petitions demanding that the Senate and the Rector should ”engage in dialogue with the CEU community and take steps to ensure that this vital area of study continues to thrive within the university.” In their petition, the students requested the Senate’s justification for suspending the program, including ”the data, financial considerations, and other information consulted.”

At the beginning of October the students and alumni received responses to an open letter. In these letters, the university administration claimed that students were misinformed and recommended they “ascertain facts before expressing their concerns.” By coincidence, an annual Departmental meeting with the Rector and Pro-Rector was coming. Three student representatives were given the opportunity to ask questions related to the situation, however, according to their impressions, this act did not provide clear answers to their questions and left them with mixed feelings.

“They insisted that the decision-making process was transparent, slow, and foreseeable, unfolding over the past years. Yet the reality for us students is that, until that meeting, we had not been officially informed by the Rector or the Pro-Rector about their decision. Nor have we been given clear information about what the five deferred students in our cohort will be able to study, or how the students currently in their first year of the two-year program will be able to continue their Nationalism Studies next year,” explained Neff, one of the student representatives of the Nationalism Studies program, addressing the students‘ concerns. “We have only been assured that we will receive our diplomas, which, as the Pro-Rector said, will make us ‚stick out, since it will be a rare one‘ after the cancellation of our program.”

  ”I have heard that sadness is born of anger, and that is exactly how I feel,” shared Eri, a student of the NATI program (this is a course abbreviation for Nationalism Studies) and second student representative of the Nationalism Studies program. ”We are mature adults and should have had a more constructive discussion.”

  Following their experience at the departmental meeting, students launched a new petition to address misunderstandings that had arisen. For example, students received an email from the administration claiming that CEU faculty were circulating petitions among students. However, in their new petition, the students clarified that the faculty were not involved in drafting or circulating any open letters. The students outlined their main goal: they want to ”request the opportunity to discuss alternatives for the future of the Nationalism Studies Program”. This request has so far remained unanswered. Cortney, a student of the NATI program, expressed her concern regarding transparency of decision-making process.

 ”One of the reasons I believe it‘s important to engage with the CEU administration regarding this potential change to the program is that we need to set an example of productive engagement with students and other stakeholders of the university....I’m thinking of other students who don’t have a basis for comparison, and the model CEU is setting for how the university engages with students as stakeholders is wrong. It’s crucial to demand constructive, open, and meaningful dialogue for the sake of all students at CEU.”

In the meantime, the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN), expressed concern over the suspension of the Nationalism Studies program and shared the alumni petition in support.

“The Nationalism Studies programme at CEU is not only one of a handful that study nations and nationalism at the postgraduate level; it is one of the very best. The termination of the programme would be a loss not just to CEU and its future scholars, but to the broader academy.”