Odesa National Law Academy Appeals for Minister Lisovyi's Dismissal

A conference of the staff of the Odesa National University "Odesa National Law Academy" has decided to appeal to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal with a request to dismiss Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi.

This was reported by the university's press service.

They also decided to appeal to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk with a request to cancel the Cabinet of Ministers' order "On the Reorganization of the National University of Odesa Law Academy."

This order stipulated that the university would be merged with the I. Mechnikov Odesa National University.

Representatives of the law academy insist that the decision was not discussed with the university's self-government bodies. In addition, the law academy is dissatisfied with the Minister's statements regarding this merger and considers them provocative and offensive, and expressed doubts about his qualifications.

"A person who has never worked in the field of higher education governance, does not have the appropriate professional skills, and was not even able to admit to scientific plagiarism without an expert examination has no moral right to hold such a significant position and remain in the field of education," the academy emphasized.

The day before, Minister Oksen Lisovyi said that the decision made at the government meeting was logical given the changes that the Ministry of Education and Science is implementing in higher education by revising the network of institutions.

"The reorganization will not negatively affect students and teachers; however, the situation is different for the management of the institution, including Serhiy Kivalov, who, in my opinion, never had the moral right to remain in education after the facts in his biography are known to everyone. Obviously, it will be difficult for such persons to agree with this decision and they will resist it," he said.

The minister also emphasized that the Odesa Law Academy was created as a result of the separation of the Law Institute, which at that time was part of the Mechnikov National University, so the return of the Academy to the structure of a classical university is a logical and symbolic step, according to the minister.

Кирило Бойко