Yerevan State University is Being Politicized: Menua Soghomonyan

“This is yet another act, another step to ensure the self-reproduction of that infamous political force,” said Menua Soghomonyan, a lecturer at Yerevan State University (YSU), in an interview with News.am regarding the elections for the chairman of the YSU Board of Trustees and the changes taking place at the university.

“If they previously claimed that the university was being 'Republicanized' because Serzh Sargsyan was the chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees, I now say you are also politicizing the university, disregarding all laws, all regulations, even the Constitution, because this entire process has been illegal. It was illegal because of the significant involvement of the current government in the formation of the university's governance bodies, and the provisions you included in higher education and science were deemed unconstitutional. You continued the same practices, and the government unilaterally made amendments to the university’s charter, including removing the requirement of a professor’s title for the position of rector. This change occurred unilaterally, which grossly violated the principle of the university's autonomy,” he stated.

Soghomonyan noted that a representative of the political force was appointed as rector, under whose sponsorship the process of forming the YSU Board of Trustees was carried out.

“One very important thing has not been taken into account: I filed claims in both civil and administrative courts. Both courts refused to accept jurisdiction and place a ban on these decisions, we appealed to the Court of Appeal, which accepted our claim,” Soghomonyan emphasized, stating that today’s session was illegal.

It is noteworthy that today, Suren Papikyan, the Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia, was elected as the chairman of the YSU Board of Trustees. During the session, YSU lecturer Menua Soghomonyan issued a statement noting that the session was illegal. He also considered the tenure of Hovhannes Hovhannisyan as the acting rector to be unlawful.