MLA Statement on the Closing of the Central European University
The Executive Council approved the following statement in December 2018.
The Modern Language Association protests the repressive measures by the Hungarian government that have forced the closing of Central European University in Hungary, which was announced on 3 December 2018.
Central European University (CEU) is a highly respected graduate-level institution founded in the early 1990s by the American philanthropist George Soros. Scores of political figures and other leaders across Europe are graduates of the university, which has played an important role in national life in Hungary and provided a major role for Hungary in international research and academic cooperation. The decision of the Hungarian government to force CEU’s closure, as part of larger, ongoing national efforts to quash dissent in the country, is a direct attack on academic freedom and the possibility of political dissent in Hungary.
The MLA protests the continuing attacks on free speech and critical thinking in Hungary, mourns that country’s loss of the Central European University, and joins the scores of university leaders, politicians, and Nobel laureates from around the world who have condemned the repressive course of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.