Alternative graduation ceremony at Boğaziçi: ‘You will never walk alone’
* Photos: Ahmet Emre
Click to read the article in Turkish
In protest against the online graduation ceremony held by the appointed administration of Boğaziçi University, students, academics and relatives of newly graduated students came together at the alternative graduation ceremony at the South Campus yesterday (September 8).
The ceremony was attended by 450 new graduates, their nearly 700 relatives and loved ones as well Boğaziçi University academics.
The alternative graduation ceremony started at 4.30 pm, with the newly graduated students carrying banners of their departments. The graduates and academics also kept a symbolic vigil by turning their backs to the Rector's Office, as the academics have been doing since early January.
Diplomas don't have İnci's signature
The opening speeches of the alternative graduation were made by İmran Gökçe Şahin and Doruk Tunaoğlu from the ceremony committee.
The ceremony continued with the speeches of Assoc. Prof. Ayfer Bartu Candan from the Department of Sociology; Feyzi Erçin, whose courses at summer school and in fall semester were not approved by the appointed rector Naci İnci; Can Candan, who was dismissed by İnci on July 16, when he was still the acting rector, Zeynep Akçakaya, who graduated in 2009, and Bilge Özmen and Buse Giledereli, who graduated this year.
The ceremony ended after the newly graduated students received their "resistance diplomas" that are not signed by Prof. Naci İnci, who has been appointed as rector by President and ruling AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in place of Melih Bulu, the previous appointed rector.
From Can Candan's speech"Don't bother with the signature on your diplomas. Don't forget: You have deserved that diploma and we have given it to you. You never know what you encounter in life. This is where its beauty lies. A constant process of learning... Ample with surprises... 34 years ago, when I came to this campus for enrollment as a fresh high school graduate, I could not have ever imagined that I would have the honor to address you as a Boğaziçi academic of 14 years at the graduation ceremony that you organized here today. Today will be one of the important memories of my life. I would like to thank you for this beautiful gift. And I congratulate you with all my heart. Godspeed, all the best! We are so lucky to have you and to be together. I love you so much." |
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From Feyzi Erçin's speech"If you graduate from our beloved school here, on the grass by claiming your own will instead of an online filmed, fake ceremony, it is thanks to your belief that you can do it. This is only the beginning of what you can do. I love all of you very much. But love is not enough, my friends. You need to fight before that. "'It has not ended, that fight still continues. And it will do so! Till the face of the earth becomes the face of love!' Godspeed, I will never leave you alone." |
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From Ayfer Bartu Candan's speech"Academics for Peace were mistreated, they were dismissed from universities. They have given up on neither their dreams for peace nor on their dreams for returning to universities. They are insisting on the impossible. And one day, they will come back to universities. Just as professors Can and Feyzi will do so, too. We are the ones who will follow up this future, this legacy, these sources of inspiration. A legacy trying to make life possible by insisting on the impossible... "Since January 2, we have insisted on the impossible. We have called the trustee the trustee, we have put it on the signboard, we have not accepted, we have resisted and we are still resisting. We will not give up on our academics, on the Commission on Prevention of Sexual Violence (CİTÖK), on the İstanbul Convention or on our university. And till that day comes, we will keep on calling the trustee the trustee. We will defend this university no matter what price it will have. We will not bow down. Bless you, godspeed, you are so beautiful and we are beautiful together: Do your job properly, you modest, gracious, successful and cheerful people. Let this trouble the others." |
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From Buse Giledereli's speech"Boğaziçi University is not only an institution where we receive our education, this is our home... We spent our years at Boğaziçi. Yes, as of today, we are the graduates of Boğaziçi University. I am sure that our friends who will come here after us will claim what we have learned and make it all the more colorful. And we will support them. We will walk down the slope of our home and say, 'Here we are, we are back.' "Till that day comes, we will resist the monsters that we face in both novels and our real lives, I believe this with all my heart. As a friend of mine whom I love so much told me months ago: 'We will topple the unjust and cruel order that made us meet with our love.' And you, the one from Boğaziçi, you will never walk alone." |
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What happened?
With a Presidential decision published in the Official Gazette, President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed Prof. Melih Bulu, an academic from outside Boğaziçi University's academic community, as the rector of the university on January 2, which was met with harsh criticism and protests of students, academics and alumni.
Amid these protests, Erdoğan removed Bulu from office with a Presidential decision on July 15; the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) appointed his vice rector Prof. Naci İnci as the acting rector.
The YÖK accepted applications for the rectorship of Boğaziçi University till August 2 and President Erdoğan has appointed Prof. Naci İnci, who accepted his appointment as a vice rector while his two students from the Physics Department were arrested over the protests, dismissed Can Candan and Feyzi Erçin from the university and received a vote of no confidence from 95 percent of Boğaziçi academics. (DŞ/SD)