Let us give a short review of the events that have been shaking the biggest higher educational establishment in Ukraine’s east for half a year already. On July 29 Minister of Education Dmytro Tabachnyk, having received from the rector of the university Volodymyr Shevchenko (according to the latter) a voluntary agreement to stay at the post, dismissed him by his edict. The head of one of the departments, Petro Yehorov, was appointed executive head of the university. His candidature was openly supported by the ministry of education. However at the conference of the university’s employees Yurii Lysenko, head of the economic cybernetics department, earned a majority of votes. Several days later law enforcement officials came to the appartment of the newly-elected rector with a search warrant with them. They said that they were looking for financial documents that would prove that Lysenko’s wife, chief accountant of the university Tetiana Lev, was involved in the illegal fraud of budgetary money. Somewhat afterwards, the elderly woman was beaten up by some unknown men, who did not omit to tell her cynically: “It’s for your husband.” The final blow came from the Kyiv District Administrative Court which forbid the Ministry of Education to sign contracts with the winner of the elections. The decision was approved based on the lawsuit brought by a the teacher of the capital’s National Academy of Internal Affairs Oleksandr Korystin, who also aspired for the post of rector in Donetsk.
On the eve of the first court session scheduled for the end of January Lysenko showed high morale, making obsure commentaries to the press, which was closely following the conflict, on the plans of procedure attacks created by lawyers against him.
The first signs of doubt were already seen in his behavior, though. In particular, he made statements that were clearly opportunistic: about his desire to enter the ruling Party of Regions and intention to build an Orthodox church of Moscow Patriarchate. Surely, because of this the number of Lysenko’s supporters among the liberal teachers of the university noticeably decreased. Soon the employees of the Donetsk University could be left faced with a classical, excellently practiced scheme in Ukrainian elections — to choose the lesser evil. But the acute conflict connected with the rector’s post had a much simpler solution. When the legal proceedings were postponed for a month, the 65-year-old scholar capitulated. As Lysenko’s private lawyer Kateryna Kutnia stated, he brought in an appeal to the ministry with a rejection of the office. “They forecast that the marathon may drag on till September, so why should I risk my health? Moreover, I cannot see any prospect that can earn me this post,” the professor honestly admitted.
It is not simple to learn about the further plans of defeated Lysenko: he does not answer the media’s calls, whose support he has eagerly sought util recently. But an employee of the economic cybernetics department at the Donetsk University, who sought anonimity, agreed to say that nobody expects any drastic changes in the near future. To all appearances, no active investigation is being carried out against Lev, who quietly resigned her job at the university. It is worth adding that the former head of the higher educational establishment Shevchenko, who recently actively supported the independent candidate at the elections, was confered a not quite understandable, yet undoubtedly prestigious title of honorable rector. All that remains to be found is why anyone would need to start this high-profile case. First, serious financial fraud has indeed taken place at the university. But before launching criminal action, the authorities decided to remove Shevchenko from the firing line — he is the only full member of the National Academy among all Donetsk rectors and a Hero of Ukraine. Some new person that has been proven reliable was supposed to substitute him. But as we remember all of a sudden the accepted scenario went off.
The second version is that “rector reshuffle” was from the very beginning organized with an aim to promote the many-year head of the accounting-finance department Yehorov. Some regional experts claim that the young generation of Donetsk “leaders,” left by their fathers to keep the region under their control also rushed to conquer the capital. Say, in the 1990s the “cool men” surrounded themselves by criminals ready to do anything. The “cool men” of today also create a non-formal network of influential people, only now they are employees of the prosecutor’s office, tax militia, banks’ top managers. Guess at what department all these people receive high education diplomas, when the absence of university diploma starts to impede the career growth.
Finally, an additional motive emerged in the scholarly circles of the “miners’ capital.” It is common knowledge that the prospect of creating so-called academic universities, a form of integrated research-educational center, where preparation of high-qualified employees would merge with implementation of innovative tasks, has become a topic for debate. In the West analogical schemes have proven to be successful. In our country the pilot projects were supposed to be established in Kyiv (two), Kharkiv and Lviv. Donetsk is not on the list, and Shevchenko would have for sure protested against such discrimination, using all of his leverage. Being granted a status the honorable rector has to be silent and thankful.
One way or another, new elections await the Donetsk National University. Expectations are that this time the employees, remembering the sad experience with Lysenko, will make the “right” choice without hesitation.
One more thing. Several months ago a group of teachers and students of the Donetsk National University came up with an idea to name the university after its genius graduate, the poet Vasyl Stus. The Day actively supported this initiative, but the noble cause was buried by Donetsk Ukrainophobes. At the time that seemed unjust. Now I begin to think that it was prevented by God.
