Student council UNA goes to Court

September 30, 2008 5:19 AM

The student council, student association Unese, Supervisory Council, rector of the UNA, and the instructors of the Social Economic Faculty (SEF) met this morning about the SEF’s situation.

The parties left the meeting angry and without a solution. The meeting took place on the day that the ultimatum of the student council to the rector expired and harder actions would follow. The student council doesn’t see any other solution than legal proceedings. Education-union Sitek is of the opinion that the rector must be sent on vacation and that the UNA needs to reorganize.|

Chairman of the student council Jhanira Anita confirmed this. “The meeting was disappointing, without any progress. We’re still where we left off”, said Anita right before the information meeting for the students.
The UNA insisted on Friday that the problems were solved for 95 percent. In a press release ‘of UNA-management’, but written and submitted by SEF-instructor Miguel Goede, it is mentioned that the faculty is running for more than 95 percent and that there is ‘a constructive cooperation as regards to content with the student organization’. This is in contrast with the ultimatum set. Remarkable detail is that Goede was also SEF-dean in the past, but his re-appointment led to a lot of resistance from the other SEF-staff instructors. Goede also mentions that the rector has drawn up a taskforce for schedules and that all student information can be read on the website. ”What we do not have under control are other groups of students (with or without their parents) that for reasons of their own, try to make trouble.”

Sitek sees it differently. The union has sent a letter to the rector today, indicating that she gives the ‘illegally appointed interim-dean’ the authority to spread warnings regarding the legal position of instructors, while this is outside his competence. Besides, this creates tension that can harm the quality of the UNA, says Sitek.
“The rector should not intimidate”, says Chairman Bicho Justiana. “The UNA has a Human Resource Manager (HRM). Before you send a written warning, the HRM must be involved for conversations. Besides the warnings make no sense and are not concrete. They are more like threatening letters in the newspaper saying ‘please do your job’ and there is no concrete mention of reprehensible behavior. The warnings are also unreasonable, because instructors are accused of not teaching at two locations at the same time, as the inferior schedule requires.”
Sitek and Abvo will meet with the entire UNA-personnel tomorrow. Subject of the meeting is the legal position.

(Source: National Newspaper Amigoe)

29 September, 2008