W E E K Lthe

c e n t r a l e u r o p e a n u n i v e r s i t y

YAn independent newspaper by CEU students and alumni October 15, 2014, Year 4, Issue 50

Hungarian Expressionof the week

A kétely a bölcsesség kezdete.

Translation:He that knows nothing,

doubts nothing.

fHungary NewsCEU Sports Day

Interview with CEU Rector: Prof. JohnShattuck

CompetitionReport & Hong KongProtests

issue50th

The CEU Weekly celebrates its 50th publication!

Around Budapest:Hidden Treasures

UpcomingEvents

CEU ComingOut Week

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THE CEU WEEKLY

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CEU Sports Day --Dan Hartas, Philosophy, United Kingdom

I’ll be honest with you, Weekly readers, your journalist is not very sporty. I think ‘offside’ is a way of cooking eggs.

And Friday night had been a pretty big party, so when I staggered down to Sports Day last week, it was only out of a reporter’s determination to get the story. I’d signed up to play chess, but when I got there it was decided there weren’t enough people for a proper tournament. A little disheartened, I wandered outside to watch the football, and bumped into a few friends.

Joseph Chukwuocha from MA Philosophy told me what I was doing wrong: “People have been exercising their mind all week. Now, we want to exercise our bodies.” He was right, and his enthusiasm was infectious. By the end of his next game, I was cheering for them: gasping when they nearly made a goal, wincing when they lost the ball.

The rain stopped nobody, and the entire Residence Center

was filled with smiling, glowing faces. The club anthems booming out from ‘Dance With Luis’ gave the whole place a party atmosphere, and a party where everyone was giving it their all. Tab Taylor from MA Philosophy, who’d signed up for ‘Dance’ and ‘Aquafitness’, told me simply “It was ex-hausting,” before collapsing on a sofa right there in front of me.

After everyone finished their workouts, they filed into the hall for what was definitely the best spectator sport of the day: the doughnut eating competition. László Jakab, from MA Public Policy, destroyed the competition – and the doughnuts – in front of a roaring crowd. The awards came after that, and there was no one on the stage - not even third place in the three team Volleyball competition - who wasn’t proud of how they’d spent their day. Next Sports Day, even I’ll have to join in.

This Week in Hungary: It’s All in the FamilyIf you’ve found yourself outside Nador 9 lately, you can be forgiven for grinning as you spotted Andor Schmuck’s poster right outside CEU’s main entrance. A lot of us won’t be following this year’s local elections in Hungary, but some of us will undoubtedly have been struck by some of the more unusual names floating around this year’s cam-paigns.DISCLAIMER: What follows is intended as satire, candidates declined to comment on the hilarity or otherwise of their family names.

He may not have thought much about it, but credit goes to Mr.Schmuck for fully em- bracing even the negative connotations provoked by his family name by en- tering politics:Schmuck: noun (North American informal) ‘A foolish or contemptible person: You’ve really got to be some schmuck to fall for that one’

Not everyone will be hav-ing a quiet chuckle at this one, but for the Serbo-Croatian speakers among us, Mr. Harrach might sound like the perfect guy for the job. With politi-cians everywhere promot-ing austerity, Harrach doesn’t need a program, he is the Mr. Tax we’ve all been waiting for.Hàrāč (Croatian), harç (Turkish): 1. Historical levy the Ottoman Empire had to pay for every non- Muslim over the age of seven. 2. Pejorative. Rob- bery, theft. 3. Allegorical. Costs, expenses.

Finally, our last candi- date is fighting drag- ons one election cam-paign at a time. Good old St George from the Val- ley, whose name barely fits onto his campaign posters, reminds us that not every name can be squeezed onto the side of a bus. Keep up the good fight Georgie.

As for Mr. Falus, English-language speakers out there might have noticed the likeness to the word ‘phallus’. Unwittingly em-bracing this year’s absence of any female mayoral can-didates, here’s hoping Mr. Falus can “live up to his name.” Phallus: noun (plural phalli or phalluses) ‘A pe- nis, especially when erect (typically used with ref- erence to male potency or dominance): The hill fig-ure is a naked man bran-dishing a club and display-ing a huge phallus.’ WARNING: Avoiding googling if possible.

--Imogen Bayley, PhD History,New Zealand

Hungary News

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Special Report

The Czechoslovak Legal Contest for Best Student Paper of 2014

On September 18th and 19th the fourth annual Czechoslo-

vak Legal Contest for Best Student Paper took place in the city of Plzen, located in the west of the Czech Re-public. The contemporary design of this conference allowed current and previous students, who obtained the best results in defending their pa-pers during faculty rounds of Slovak or Czech law faculties to participate.

The design of this conference is understood in light of two factors: firstly, the special relationship of the Slovak and Czech Republic, which once constituted a federation only 22 years ago; and secondly, the tradition of the event, originally called Student Scientific Activity, which stems from the pre-1989 period and forms one of the few positive traditions of aca-demic life from the previous regime.

The positive aspects of this confer-ence includes the strengthening of cooperation between law faculties in the two countries, the opportu-nity to present the results of students and their own research for other young fellows and renowned legal experts, and the experience to prac-tice rhetorical and presentation skills.

The student papers were presented in categories divided according to the traditional branches of law. There are: constitutional law and legal theory (in-cluding human rights), political sci-ence and economics, private law (civil, business and labor law), criminal law, European and public international law, private international law and civil pro-cedure, legal history and Roman law, and a joint doctoral students section.

Example papers were concerned with the constitutional powers of the Slovak

president, the abolishment of koblyna and rokovyna, (forms of civil payments to the Greek Catholic Church) in the First Czechoslovak Republic, various aspects of the new Czech Civil Code, regulation of hate speech, modern slavery according to public interna-tional law, anonymisation of records in judicial decisions, or the regula-tion of data on the Internet. Three papers were awarded in each section.

In sum, the conference was a posi-tive example in supporting student research initiatives. Bringing in an international aspect by including more countries would surely make up for a key possibility for law students in the whole region. On the other hand, the contest in its contemporary form stresses the strength and inten-sity of Czech and Slovak cooperation.

What Next for Hong Kong?Amongst the pageantry of this

most polite and photogenic of movements, it has been easy to over-look the actual demands of the Hong Kong protestors. The initial impetus of this particular uprising was propelled by the announcement of the Chinese government that its promise of “Uni-versal Suffrage” for Hong Kong by 2017 would come with the caveat that all candidates for the position of Chief Executive must gain the approval of a nominating committee, one that is dominated by pro-Beijing voices. Thousands of residents joined the pro-democracy student protestors outside the government buildings, including protestors organized by the “Occupy Central with Peace and Love” party. The group has been promising civil disobedience on a grand scale. Their protests are calling attention to the perceived slide of Hong Kong under the thumb of the Chinese Commu-nist Party, as well as revealing poten-tial fears about what this slide could mean for the political, social and cul-tural freedoms which Hong Kongers currently enjoy compared when with their mainland counterparts.

Chief Executive CY Leung was clearly caught by surprise of the ini-tial force and scale of the demonstra-tions, and this unpreparedness lead to the deployment of tear gas by police on the opening night of the protests. Since that PR gaffe, which provided his opponents with international at-tention (no international observer wants to support the big, bad police in their gas masks, especially versus the cling-film, swimming goggles, and umbrellas of the protestors), Leung has been much smarter, allowing an-ger with the protestors to build up within the rest of the population as the demonstrations disrupt daily life by continuing to block main roads and inconveniencing the law-abiding majority. By promising talks with the protestors, only to cancel them once the protest numbers started to die down, Leung has regained the ad-vantage. Rumours abound that the violence meted out upon protestors last week by apparently spontane-ous members of the public may have been orchestrated by triad (organized criminal gangs) elements in collusion with government figures. However

none of this can be proved and Leung can maintain his image as the voice of the silent majority in Hong Kong.It is difficult to see how the protest

leaders’ calls to re-occupy every inch of the streets in response to the gov-ernment’s cancellation of talks will succeed. New tactics are needed – calls are being made to occupy the parks, rather than the highways, to prevent the danger of turning normal Hong Kongers against the protestors and their pro-democratic message through continued disruption. The difficulty here lies in the privatisa-tion of previously public space, limit-ing legal protest to the margins. Here “soft power” is the protestors’ stron-gest weapon – continuing to fix the gaze of the world upon Hong Kong through continued creative, peaceful and appealing styles of protest. Pro-democracy demonstrators should continue to seize the stylistic initia-tive and use their freedom of speech to keep the issue alive in the inter-national media, using what power they have to make their voices heard.

-- Stephen Westlake, History, United Kingdom

-- Max Steuer, IRES, Slovakia

THE CEU WEEKLY

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Interview

Challenging the Frontiers of Democracy - a Conversation with John Shattuck

President Shattuck, thank you for agreeing to speak with me. I would like to start by asking if you can tell me about the Frontiers of Democra-cy Initiative, a total re-imagining of CEU’s mission in the region.

As you know, CEU came out of the changes in 1989 and 1991. Its original mission was to revive intellectual free-dom in the region of Central and East-ern Europe, particularly in the social sciences and humanities. CEU was central in the changes that took place during that period and was very much involved in actually training people to participate in and shape what was going on: a push toward greater open-ness, freedom of speech, the rule of law and other basic elements of de-mocracy, non-discrimination, and support for minorities, particularly Roma. Today, these same topics are once again under debate in many of the places our students come from, with there being so many differences of opinion about what democracy

is today, what type of democracy we want, what are the values of democ-racy, etc. So, CEU is going to be a cen-ter for debate on these kind of issues by holding lectures series and confer-ences on the meaning of democracy in the 21st century, or on regional is-sues like what’s happening currently in Ukraine, or in Russia or Hungary, as well as on general issues of philoso-phy—what do we mean by democracy and what are its values? And we are inviting participants from both gov-ernment and from civil society, so there will be genuine debate. And that is what the mission of CEU is today—its a very exciting time to be here.

Are there any sort of short or medi-um term goals for this path that CEU is taking and will academic freedom, for example, be affected by the chang-es?

The most important goal that we have is to be the center of academic freedom and to draw people from

all over the region and beyond. By being what CEU is, we are achiev-ing our goal. We do not have opera-tional goals, policy wise, that is not the point, but we are trying to stim-ulate critical thinking about these very broad issues involving the fu-ture of democracy in the world today.

On a practical note, in terms of ad-missions, for example, I have noticed a shift from focusing on students com-ing from Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans towards opening up to the bigger world. Is this part of the CEU’s new mission?

Yes, absolutely. One of the major changes at CEU over the last number of years is that the university has be-come more global, we now draw stu-dents from 130 countries, and, faculty from 35 countries. We are increas-ingly recruiting in Africa, Asia, even in Latin America. We do that because we are committed to diversity. There is no university in the world that is

CEU Weekly is now celebrating its 50th issue as an independent voice on campus. To mark the occasion, CEU President and Rector John Shattuck, who has been a long time supporter of our student oriented

approach to journalism, agreed to sit down with me to discuss CEU and the continual redefining of the uni-versity’s mission and goals.

ISSUE 50

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Interview

as diverse as CEU. A big part of our mission is to have no dominant na-tionality. CEU is an example of what real diversity in the world is all about.

What about hiring more ‘household’ names and investing more in existing faculty research?

We have a number of very well known visiting scholars. For example, in a few weeks Joseph Stiglitz, one of the world’s most famous economists, will give some lectures on campus. Also, our resident faculty is outstand-ing and highly respected. In fact, the strength of our faculty, particularly the research they pursue, has resulted in CEU being ranked among the top-100 universities in social sciences from the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2014-2015.

How does the campus redevelop-ment project fit into the redesigning of CEU’s mission?

We want to be a physical presence as much as an intellectual presence—we want to be a place where we can have big conferences and large gatherings of people. Through these redevel-opment projects the whole univer-sity will be brought together into one place. We now are somewhat scattered with the Business School and the De-partment of Cognitive Science being in other parts of the city. We also have a couple of other buildings in other parts of downtown Budapest. We just recently finished the planning pro-cess and approval by the authorities, so we are now hoping to be able to start the actual construction this fall.

How long is the whole project sup-posed to last and are the deadlines met and everything is in accordance with the scheduling?

Yes. There are three phases of the project. The first phase includes the two buildings at Nador 13 and Na-dor 15; there will be a larger building, a new auditorium, a new library and new facilities for faculties in the build-

ing complex. That will go on for two years. The second phase of the project will be the rest of the campus, going all the way out to the Oktober 6 street, developing more space and more ways of bringing the School of Public Policy and the Business School closer to the rest of the university. The third phase, a light redevelopment, will be of the Nador 9 building. The whole process will take about five years.

The construction is supposed to start in November?

It is supposed to start before the end of the calendar year, yes. I should men-tion, just because I know your readers will be interested, all the faculty and staff who were in the two buildings that are being redeveloped now have been relocated to rental spaces near the campus. Faculty, staff and students should not be severely affected by the fact that we are doing construction.

Obviously, the beginning takes a lit-tle bit of readjusting...

That’s right, it’s adjustment. For ex-ample, I will be going and visiting all of the new spaces where people are relocated, to see how it’s all going, I will do that in the next two weeks.

Shifting the conversation a bit to-wards Hungary, does CEU feel threat-ened or pressured in any ways by the recent developments concerning free-dom of speech, the attacks on NGOs?

No, I think CEU is a major asset in Hungary. The Hungarian government has characterized us as an internation-al asset and we have not been affected directly in terms of our operations. We are operating autonomously and freely within the framework of the law, which we obviously follow. We are working with the government on issues that are important to CEU as we move along. So I don’t think this is a time for CEU to feel any particu-lar difficulty and has a perfectly con-structive relationship with the Hun-garian government. We differ with

the government on many policy, but as far as CEU is concerned, we are accepted as an international asset.

And CEU will continue to have this sort of apolitical, neutral position?

Yes. The university itself should not be a political party. By definition, a uni-versity should be a place to study and to think critically about all types of issues, so that is what we will continue to be.

Would CEU be ready to resist and self-govern itself in a hostile environment?

CEU is following its mission precise-ly by being in such an environment, in that sense. We should be in Bu-dapest and we are very pleased to be in Budapest and not somewhere else which may seem more congenial in some way, politically. CEU is certainly prepared to be a strong projector of its academic freedom and autonomy. We will receive students who come to us to study within a framework of academic freedom and will defend that, absolutely, in any way, even now.

Yes, that is the reason why I am here as well. Thank you very much for speaking with me.

-- Vlad Levente ViskiPolitical Sciencce

Romania

Challenging the Frontiers of Democracy - a Conversation with John Shattuck

THE CEU WEEKLY

Last week, CEU students might have spotted a few ad-ditions to spaces across campus as faculty and staff

showed their support for the LGBTIAQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Intersex, A-sexual and Queer) com-munity and promoting a welcoming environment for every student – no exclusions. The Coming Out Week initiative was organized by HRSI (Human Rights Initiative) and the Sustainability team, with events organised and staffed by student volunteers. Here are a few of the highlights!

Well-known for its general dreariness, the odd smok-er and lack of anything remotely Japanese, this week the Japanese Garden played host to a small, but live-ly group of individuals committed to adding even more colour to the local CEU landscape. Sipping tea and slapping paint over the worn wood of a few of the outdoor tables, a rainbow eventually took its shape.

Even the school’s cafeteria menu embraced the diversity of the CEU community.

Back inside the corridors of campus, a Glitter Cor-ner and a Coming Out as An Ally Photo-shoot encour-aged students to have some fun with their image, to show solidarity with the LGBTIAQ Community and to think about the issues confronting the Community today and how these might be approached positively.

Students also had the opportunity to watch documentary film “Southern Comfort”, about Robert Eads, a trans man dy-ing from ovarian cancer. A representative and activist from Hungary’s Non-Profit Organisation TransVanilla was invit-ed to participate in the discussion following the screening.

National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is an annual civ-il awareness day internationally observed on October 11. The events of Coming Out Week at CEU provided all of us with the opportunity to reflect on – and cele-brate – both what makes us different and what unites us.

If you are interested in learning more about, download

your copy of the ‘Coming Out Week’ Dictionary here: https://hrsi.ceu.hu/news/2014-10-06/coming-out-dictionary

Imogen Bayley, PhD HistoryNew Zealand

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Life at CEU

Coming Out Week at CEU

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Budapest Hidden Treasures

When asked why he had put his most beautiful and vivid details on the top of every building,

where no one could see them, artist Ödön Lechner replied; “You idiots. You know nothing about art. I made it for the birds.” Indeed, who else could have seen the rooftops at nearly 100 meters high, more than 100 years ago? However, nowadays, with high buildings and drone cameras, we are able to appreci-ate Lechner’s work far more than those living in his lifetime.

Lechner left behind a heritage of distinct architec-ture in the Art Nouveau style. It is said that Lechner was tired of all the neo-style buildings that Budapest’s architecture had borrowed from other parts of the world and instead attempted to create a national Hun-garian national style that would incorporate Hungar-ian folk life and use Hungarian materials. A style that looked to the future instead of indulging in the nos-talgia that marked all major buildings in Budapest till the late 19th century. One of the award-winning project proposals that Lechner and his partner, Gyula Pártos, went by the codename “Go East, Hungarian” . This proposal gave birth to the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts opened in 1896, the third applied arts museum in the world.

You can see for yourself one of his masterpieces right in CEU’s neighborhood. Only five minutes’ walk from Nador street, the Hungarian State Treasury or the for-mer Royal Postal Savings Bank is considered to be some of the best of Lechner’s work . Standing at num-ber 4 on Hold street, next to the less elegant Hungar-

ian National Bank and almost opposite the four-star Hotel President, the building hides its charm from in-different walkers who never bother to lift their heads up. If only they did so, they would at once discover an unusual mosaic, featuring lotuses and bees, on the façade of the building that distinguishes itself from the surrounding buildings less Hungarian in style. Looking a little higher to the top, a hen’s heads and a bull’s head can be seen at the top of the building. The bull’s head is said to represent “the nomadic past of the Magyars” . Inevitably, the eye will notice the col-orful, bright material that never needs maintenance and lasts forever. The renowned Zsolnay ceramic tiles! Founded in 1853, the Zsolnay factory continues to manufacture ceramics, pottery, and tiles till this day.

So, take a break from the library, and immerse your-self in the beauty of Budapest hidden in the embroi-dery-like mosaic and the everlasting Zolnay tiles that Lechner left behind for us. And for the birds.

1. “Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.” EU2011. HU Presidency, <http://www.eu2011.hu/>.2. “City Walks by GPSmycity.com.” GPS My City. gpsmycity.com, n.d. <http://www.gpsmycity.com/>.3. Stephen Fallon, Budapest, (Hawthorn: Lonely Planet Publica- tions, 2000).

--Gian Vu, School of Public Policy, Vietnam

Top: Roof TilesLeft: Street viewPhotos courtesy of the author

Around Budapest

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The CEU Weekly is a student-alumnu initiative that seeks to provide CEU with a regularly issued newspa-per. The CEU Weekly is a vehicle of expression for the diversity of the perspectives and viewpoints that in-tegrate CEU’s open society: free and respectful public debate is our aim. We offer a place in which current events and student reflections can be voiced. Plurality, respect, and freedom of speech are our guiding principles.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Distribution Points: Reception Nádor 9, Nádor 11, Nádor 15; Library, Cloakroom & CEU Dorm ceuweekly.blogspot.com

Editor in Chief: Eszter Kajtár. Managing Editor: Lara TafferContributors: Imogen Bayley, Vlad Levente Viski, Tamara Szűcs, Dan Hartas, Stephen Westlake, Giang Vu, Max Steuer, Aaron Korenewsky, S. A. Siwiec, Christina E. Herrmann & Alexandra Medzibrodszky

FILM FESTIVALS

Holidays

Arts and Culture

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Dates: 17-19 Oct.Venue: Toldi Art CinemaFilm series that brings together some of thebest recent Finnish films.See the whole film catalogue: http://issuu.com/finnagora/docs/finnfilmnapok2014

Dates: 13-19 Oct.Venue: Cinema City -MOM ParkWatch over 300 films fromHungarian Filmmakers!See the full program at: Filmhet.hu.

Hungarian Film Festival Finnish Film Days

For those, who want to get a glimpse of the officialcommemoration of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution:City Events: Candle lighting at 3PM in front of the House of Terror(60Andrássy avenue, between Octogon and Vörösmarty utca & metro stations M1).Speech will be held later by the Prime Minister at the Hero’s Square.***Shops in Budapest will be closed on Thursday!** [http://www.hungarianamericanheritagenetwork.com/]

Photos about everyday life, politics, sport, arts, nature and history of our time.Dates: Now until 26 Oct.Where: Ethnography MuseumVisiting Hours: Daily 10:00-18:00Info: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/

World Press Photo Exhibition

BUK-A-Pest:Bukowski Writing ContestDate: 1 Nov.Venue: Klub VittulaWriting conest in the style of Charles Bukowski. Impersonations, performances, readings, and, of course, whiskey-drinking.Unique prizes for contest winners!Info: https://budapestwriterslab.wordpress.com/