Asylum should be debatable
New Democracy?s proposal to pass a law that will abolish a regulation introduced in the 1980s to prohibit the police or other law enforcement personnel from entering university grounds was a good initiative, as the so-called asylum law has no raison d?etre in this day and age. It was a law introduced during the aftermath of the dictatorship to protect students and the academic community from arbitrary persecution. However, our democracy has matured enough since then for us to know that academic freedom is a well-established right that cannot be threatened.
The only people to benefit from the asylum law today are hooligans and outlaws — and anyone else who wants to hide from the Greek state and the laws of the land.
It is clear that most university rectors are too scared to challenge the asylum law. It is therefore up to the Socialist PASOK government to agree with New Democracy?s proposal and put an end to a measure that may have been vital in 1974 but today is nothing more than a vehicle of abuse.
