Calls to review school asylum
Senior academics voiced their concern yesterday over the excessive use of a law that allows students to take over university grounds and forbids police from entering the boundaries of the educational institution. The ‘asylum law’ aims to protect the free movement of ideas and allows the university community to openly state its opinion, according to Anastassios Manthos, dean of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. «Universities cannot be held hostage by a small group (of students). Violent action and asylum are meanings that are incompatible,» said Manthos, referring to students who vandalize university property during protest action. Students from about 60 faculties at tertiary institutions have currently locked down school grounds as they protest proposed education reforms. Police are powerless to enter the university grounds, regardless of whether there is evidence of criminal action taking place.
