Appointed vice rector of Boğaziçi doesn’t approve Feyzi Erçin’s course

* Photo: Ozan Acıdere

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Prof. Naci İnci, the vice rector of the appointed rector of Boğaziçi University Prof. Melih Bulu, has not approved a class to be taught by lawyer and academic Feyzi Erçin at the summer school of the university.

As part of the "Film Studies Certificate Program" of Boğaziçi University Department of Western Languages and Literatures, Feyzi Erçin had been teaching classes on cinema as a part-time lecturer since 2013.

After his class was cancelled, the Department of Western Languages and Literatures has requested the justification of the decision in written form. However, no written document has been sent to the department in response.

In the rejection notification sent to the faculty dean via the Electronic Information Document Management System (EBYS), the grade-point averages (GPA) of the two classes taught by Erçin in the first semester of the 2020-2021 academic year were cited as the reason.

The related note has been signed by Prof. Naci İnci, who accepted his appointment as the vice rector of Boğaziçi University while his two students from the Physics Department were arrested and was appointed as the acting director of the Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences and the Institute of Graduate Sciences in Science and Engineering later on.

Naci İnci's 'opinion'

In the note signed by İnci, the following remarks were made about Erçin:

"The letter grades given by the person named Feyzi Erçin are seen as problematic. He either does not give grades in a fair manner or the content of the course does not reflect a three-credit course load.

"There has emerged the opinion that courses are not taught in line with the standards of Boğaziçi University. Thus, it has been considered that this person affects the quality of education of our university negatively. For this reason, he is not deemed suitable for teaching at our institution."

Academics have protested the decision

The academics of Boğaziçi University have protested both this decision which was taken in a "discretionary" manner and the reference to the academic as "the person named Feyzi Erçin". They have defined it as an "open attack on academic freedom and autonomy, being beyond inappropriate and far away from academic good manners or kindness."

The academics have also raised concerns that İnci gave this decision on his own and based on his own opinion without consulting with any board, commission or Senate members of the university; they have underlined that this decision has no validity in that regard.

'Every act of every individual is political'

Feyzi Erçin was one of the guests of bianet's series of "People of Boğaziçi speak out". Erçin supported the students detained and arrested during the protests against the appointed rector as a lawyer.

After they were released, Boğaziçi students gathered at the South Campus and chanted the slogan, "Prof. Feyzi, you are everything to us." Erçin briefly said the following about the struggle at Boğaziçi:

"Every act of every individual is political. Our every decision, every book we read, every film made... They are all political. Don't understand the contrary; but when I was at university - in the years of 1988-1993, when there was the opportunity to express oneself after the coup, albeit to a certain extent - there were still protests related to political opinions.

"The main issue of the students now is that they are deprived of their academic freedoms, they are more concerned about the future, they are faced with gradually worsening economic conditions. I think they want to extend the future opportunities and change this world. So, I see the protests of today as protests that are more related to democracy and the future.

"In several places, several leaders govern their countries in an authoritarian manner. Several countries threaten other countries with war and the like. Not to mention the economy and the outbreak...

"Considering that you are 20-22 within this framework, the previous generations deprive you of your future. Therefore, they want to change the course of the world to reclaim that future for themselves. This evokes my admiration. Boğaziçi is already one of the most beautiful examples of this: People from very different ethnic origins and sexual orientations are together here. We have seen this during these protests." (DŞ/SD)