Response from the President of Boğaziçi University to our 10 April letter

Laurie Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California 

 

Jeffrey Reger

MESA Executive Director

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

I write with reference to your letter of 10 April addressed to the President of the Republic of Türkiye.  His office has passed this onto the University for reply.

 

Before I turn to the substance of your correspondence, I wish to make it clear that we deplore your tone.  We welcome constructive engagement but we will not tolerate a de haut en bas approach in your communication.   Whilst we are a university based in Europe, we nevertheless share the concerns of the Global South which has exhausted its patience with hectoring lectures from third parties in the West who feel curiously entitled to sermonise.  We observe from Türkiye the rampant, often violent attacks on academic freedom over the war in Gaza in North America and yet these concerns closer to home do not appear to be your focus.  The dissonance is startling.    

 

We are of course aware of MESA’s prestige in its area of expertise.  However, this begs the question as to why you appear to have abandoned any claim to balanced empirical enquiry and proper due diligence in approaching this present matter.  Instead of presenting your concerns as if they are faits accomplis, you would have been well advised to ask Boğaziçi University for its view on these (highly contested) issues first in order to understand the stance of all parties and to then formulate a proper, independent view.  Your letter is long on allegations but fails to provide a single factual reference to support them.  As it is, we consider your current position to be not only reflexive, but inaccurate and partisan.

 

I now turn to the substance of your letter but by way of background, it is necessary to provide context. 

 

Boğaziçi University was established as Robert College in 1863 and became a state university in 1971. Since then, as is appropriate for an elite institution which seeks to retain academic leadership, it has periods of renewal.  The current period is also a time of renewal and development.  Our aim is to ensure the University evolves so it is able to engage in new academic fields that meet the needs of a changing world, to enhance research infrastructure and to provide our students with a high quality educational experience.  However it should not surprise you that transformative change often meets resistance from vested interests who personally benefit from the status quo. 

 

Universities which remain closed communities, stifling decision-making in a echo chamber whilst neglecting contextual and environmental change, will perforce lead to a loss of international competitiveness.  Regrettably, we face these challenges at Boğaziçi.  A small group of academics at the University has not supported the University's growth (as they are entitled not to) but this vocal cohort appears to be your sole source of information regarding events.  They harbour a “small but ours” mentality and jealously guard their erstwhile privilege.  They operate with a narrow sense of exclusivity, reject opposing views or academic methods within the same discipline and have worked actively to ensure academic vacancies remain unfilled if the candidate does not align with their personal and political interests.  Therefore, far from being advocates of academic freedom, they seek to undermine it by attempting to ensure their former monopoly of influence should remain extant and intact.  Our aim is to democratise academia, theirs is to ensure it remains the preserve of a narrow oligarchic elite.  

 

 

You appear to suggest that the current infrastructure improvements are “non-essential”, but in consonance with the rest of your letter, provide no evidence for such a proposition.  Boğaziçi is currently undergoing the most intensive capital renewal to its estate in over fifty years.  These infrastructural developments are in line with our stated aim to improve the academic environment for the many, not just the few.  These have included (inter alia):

1.     The acquisition of the Anadolu Hisarı campus to support the expansion of the University. This marks the first expansion in campus space in 40 years. 

2.     The new space has allowed us to relocate the English Preparatory School from the Kilyos campus (30km away) to the core Istanbul campus. The distance of Kilyos from the city and its isolated location had posed significant challenges for our students in integrating within the life of the rest of our academic community. Now Preparatory School students are located just across the main campus in an expansive area covering 75,585m2. In addition to academic provision, the Anadolu Hisarı Campus also includes sports facilities for extra-curricular activities.

3.     Istanbul falls within the highest risk earthquake zone. Following the Gölcük earthquake in 1999, it is predicted that earthquakes of at least magnitude 7 are likely to occur in future. Despite this, previous University administrations have not addressed the lack of earthquake resilience in student dormitories and the library, resulting in hundreds of students occupying at-risk constructions.  To address this, we are building five new, code-compliant student dormitories on our campuses.  Temporary residential accommodation arrangements have therefore been put in place as a result.  Upon completion of these works, our dormitory capacity will increase by almost 70%, offering housing in safe, high-quality accommodation.  It is therefore incongruent to express dissatisfaction with the inadequacy of student dormitories on one hand and then complain about measures being taken to address this on the other.

4.     The university library (located on the North Campus) is used daily by hundreds of academics and students.  It has been known for many years that this building is not earthquake resistant indeed, prior to my tenure, it was subject to a demolition order.  Inexplicably, previous administrations ignored this order and continued to allow use of a high-risk building. The library building is now being demolished and will be completely rebuilt to ensure it is code-compliant.

5.     The "Square Block" Construction – this building which houses University's classrooms and 250 important research laboratories will be refurbished and remodelled to ensure it is earthquake-resistant and energy-efficient. The project, which will transition to smart grids, will sharply reduce both carbon footprint and energy consumption, and will result in $12 million of savings.

6.     Accommodation for Faculty at the Uçaksavar Campus is being completely rebuilt for similar reasons. Previous lodgings were not earthquake resistance, and in their place, new structures housing 240 units will be built, representing a quadrupling of capacity. 

7.     Boğaziçi University is blessed to have several listed buildings of significant architectural importance in its grounds.  Work has commenced to restore these buildings in the University's historic South Campus to their original grandeur whilst taking advantage of the process to improve their energy efficiency, not a straightforward task in historical buildings built to completely different standards.  In this way, Boğaziçi University is taking significant steps towards its zero carbon goal.

 

These projects, far from being “non-essential” are actually well overdue and seek to correct the neglect the University estate has suffered from over several decades.  Any comparison with an analogous institute internationally (eg Imperial or the London Business School) will demonstrate that all elite colleges have improved infrastructure in this way if, at least, they wish to continue to deliver world-leading facilities.

 

 

I now turn to your allegations concerning faculty.  You suggest that new faculty appointments are arbitrary, subject to favouritism and undertaken without board approval.  You claim that certain faculty members have been dismissed due to their personal or political opinions.  You also claim that new faculty has been recruited whose qualifications are “well below established standards”.  In summary, you present yourself as experts on the University’s internal governance, appointment processes and the nature of its decision-making processes.  I suggest to you that you are neither qualified or entitled to make such judgements given your position as international interlocutors who have no credible first hand knowledge of the issues and that again, you should have conducted proper due diligence before passing judgement.  I answer these points in turn below.

 

1. Dismissal of faculty members:  no faculty members have been dismissed by the University administration for political reasons.  This is simply an untrue allegation and you provide no credible evidence to support it.  If faculty have left, it is due to their non-compliance with University regulations or because their fixed term contracts have expired.  This has been misrepresented by aggrieved parties as somehow putative dismissal for their personal beliefs.  This is rejected.  For completeness, I explain the relevant regulatory context.

                        a.     Part-time faculty members are not approved for University teaching.  This has always been the case at Boğaziçi. 

i.       The administration has reminded faculties in writing that compulsory courses in departments must be taught by full-time academics, not part-time associates. This rule is a measure taken to ensure quality of academic standards are maintained.

ii.     Faculties have also been reminded that courses requiring specialist expertise must be taught by faculty holding a doctoral degree in the relevant field for obvious reasons.

iii.    As a result, faculties are undertaking internal audits to ensure compulsory courses are taught by full-time faculty and specialist courses are taught by those appropriately qualified. 

iv.    Those who have complained of being “dismissed from the university” are not full-time academics at the University. They are academics who have taught on an hourly basis on fixed term contracts and/or were inadequately qualified.  As a part of these faculty audits, these individuals were clearly found not to meet the standards described above and their contracts were not renewed or terminated.  Rather than acknowledge that they should not have been teaching at the University in this manner in the first place, they have decided to mischaracterise their departure as an assault on their beliefs when the latter has had no bearing in any way on the University’s decisions.

 

2.     New faculty appointments:

                        a.     Boğaziçi University's appointment and promotion criteria have been both clarified and improved since we took office. We have not made a single appointment based on anything other than merit. Approximately 80 academics newly in post so far have obtained their doctoral degrees from prestigious universities worldwide, constituting 80.4% of the total. These are doctoral graduates from leading institutions such as LSE, Harvard, Columbia, Syracuse, King’s College London, ETH Zurich, McGill University, MIT and Imperial.  These universities represent the cream of the international academic elite and I struggle to understand why you appear to believe that this does not improve academic and research standards.

                       b.     New faculty is appointed on the basis of transparent, public competition and the process is easily accessible on our webpage.  Candidates are evaluated on published academic criteria where merit is the primordial concern. The former process where nepotistic connections or holding a sympathetic worldview to the recruiter is thankfully over.  New appointments continue to be made according to exigent academic criteria and this is our only discriminator

 

3.      Retired academics:

                        a.     Academics who have taught at the University but have reached retirement age have contributed significantly to the institution over the years.  However, we believe it is important to make room for young academic talent in the interests of a diverse and accessible faculty. This, I am sure you know, is also a subject of discussion in both the United States and other countries with prestigious universities. Nevertheless, retired faculty members who continue to teach part-time still exist.  Some of these retired academics have tried to actively manage their academic units to exert power over younger academics which results in the stifling of innovation and challenging of idées reçues in those departments.  This harms our quest for unrelentingly high academic standards and therefore has had to be addressed.

 

 

You appear to view the development of the University with disdain, something I find rather perplexing.  As I have already mentioned, the University has embarked on a significant process of change and transformation since July 2021, determined to prepare itself for the future and to retain its status as Türkiye’s leading university.  In this regard it is no different to any elite university worldwide.  One of our guiding principles during this period is to establish an identity that is outward-looking and connected to society, rather than being inward-looking and detached from the community.  It may be useful to explain this in more detail.

                      a.       Two new faculties, the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Communication, have been established, and efforts are underway to structure them. Despite being established in 2021 only three years ago, our Faculty of Law has become one of the most popular in Türkiye in terms of admissions sought from prospective students. The Faculty of Law represents the first academic growth initiative at Boğaziçi University in 27 years.

                      b.       A specialised team with expertise in both industry and academia has been assigned to the newly established Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Institute.  This institute, focusing on postgraduate education and research activities, will explore data science and artificial intelligence applications in all fields, from social sciences to finance, from basic sciences to engineering. Undoubtedly, this institute has a long journey ahead, but it has quickly attracted attention from qualified academic staff at reputable universities and received over 150 masters’ degree applications in its first year alone, thanks to its dynamic and interdisciplinary focus.

                      c.       After 20 years of trying, the Applied Sciences Vocational School has finally completed its transformation with the establishment of the Faculty of Management Sciences, covering the departments of International Trade, Management Information Systems, and Tourism Management.

                      d.       As a research university, Boğaziçi University is taking serious steps towards enhancing the infrastructure needed for scientific research. One of the most significant investments in this direction is the opening of the Kandilli Science, Technology, and Research Building. This facility, the fruit of collaboration between Boğaziçi University academics and their colleagues, contributes to Türkiye's production of indigenous technology, ranging from health to energy and from physics to earthquake studies.

                      e.       In 2022, a significant endeavour focusing on research and technology development, the Carbon Negative Biorefinery, was inaugurated at our Kilyos Sarıtepe Campus.  This establishes a centre of excellence in areas such as energy, food and pharmaceuticals.  Through the biorefinery, progress has been made in the production of biological jet fuel in our country for the first time.

                       f.       Another major leap forward for the University are the Technology Development Zones (Technoparks) we are preparing to develop on our campuses. A new 70,000sqm Technopark at the Kandilli Campus has already begun construction and we are expanding and increasing the infrastructure of the Technopark on the North Campus, multiplying its indoor space by 11 times. With these new Technopark spaces, we will strengthen the University's R&D ecosystem and its connection with the country’s high-tech industries. Technoparks provide valuable opportunities for our academics to engage with industry and application and will also allow our students to find employment opportunities and realise potential start-ups and new ventures with our industry partners.

 

 

I now turn to your critique concerning alleged attacks on the freedom of expression and association of Boğaziçi students.  Your suggestion that student life has effectively been eliminated is preposterous and undermines any claim to credible scrutiny you may have elsewhere.  Student life remains very much active and vibrant at Boğaziçi.  The hyperbolic comparisons to the military era are not only untrue, they again demonstrate your persistent tendency to make judgements without factual basis.  Our students, as is befitting of a highly selective intake, are both talented, confident and unapologetic in organising and expressing themselves.  They have established dozens of student clubs and associations where last year, both event attendance and club membership increased by an average of 20%.  Events such as the Career Summit, with over sixty career-related sessions, nearly forty thematic summits in various fields of science, the TaşodaMusic Festival, Folklore, Theatre, Choir performances, Dance Festivals, Battle of the Bands, Battle of the DJs, Unlimited Music Days, Sports Festivals, International Steel Bridge Competition, ICAMES (International, Cultural and Academic Meeting of Engineering Students), Children's Festival, Sports Awards, Business Awards, IT Awards, Environmental Awards and Social Responsibility Projects are just some examples of a vibrant campus life.  It is the students themselves that drive these activities and the University welcomes their dynamism and this expression of their talents.

 

There is no obstacle to expressing opinions or staging protests at our university as long as such protest remain peaceful.  The only time law enforcement has attended is when protests have become violent.  Intervention in these cases was not at the behest of the University (which has no locus in this matter) but by the local police itself to ensure health and safety was maintained for the entire University community.  To believe that somehow 16,000 students are being subject to draconian disciplinary measures is deeply unserious and I invite you to reconsider your position.  If nothing else, I would expect you to be aware that the University administration has no power to instigate “disciplinary investigations” against individual students.  

 

Finally I turn to your comments regarding academic freedom, self-governance and the appointment of the Rector.  We would have expected you to provide just one example in your letter of interference in academic freedom at our university in support of your allegations.  Our academics have not been censored and neither have they faced any intervention in determining curricula or course and research content to date. 

 

The selection of a Rector by faculty members is a political argument, not an academic one.  As far as we are aware, no such process is employed in any of the world's leading universities.  When we look at the top schools in the US, such as Harvard or Duke, we do not see University leaders being appointed in this manner. In state universities in the US, they are appointed by the State government. This method of appointment does not indicate that these universities foster poor practice or that they undermine academic freedoms thereby.

 

Finally, I would like to remind you once again that whilst we are always open to respectful engagement and critique, representations should be informed and well-founded.  Partisan viewpoints relying on a narrow stratum of individuals who seek to preserve their vested privileges in the guise of concerns over academic freedoms are not credible.  Neither will we allow our community to be hijacked by those interests to promote their political and electoral campaigns. 

 

Should you wish to engage with us in this vein, you are welcome to visit our campus to freely observe our community first hand and draw your own conclusions.

 

Yours faithfully,