YeSU Rector resigns amid students' protests

Today, Aram Simonyan, whose resignation was demanded by student activists, has voluntarily left the post of Rector of the Yerevan State University (YeSU). As explained by the press secretary of the university, Mr Simonyan does not want to darken the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the YeSU with the struggle around his candidacy.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that since 2018, students of the YeSU have repeatedly held protests, pointing to the low quality of education, absence of academic freedom, no-transparency of management and inappropriate waste of resources.

"The YeSU Rector Aram Simonyan has resigned," the spokesman, Gevorg Emin-Teryan, wrote on his Facebook page today (translated by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent).

"He said that he would not allow the centenary of the university to be clouded; so far, not a single congratulation has been received; therefore he resigns," the "Azatutyun Radio" has quoted Mr Emin-Teryan on its website today.

As reported today by the "Sputnik-Armenia", earlier, Araik Arutyunyan, the Minister of Education, spoke about the need for Rector Simonyan to resign.

It should be noted here that after the "velvet revolution", as a result of which Nikol Pashinyan came to power in May 2018, protests against the leadership began in a number of Armenian universities. Thus, on May 15, under the pressure of student activists, the rector and chairman of the board of the Shirak University left their posts. The students of the Yerevan Institute of Theatre and Cinema have also achieved resignation of their rector. However, they also failed to support the new rector, who was elected yesterday, on May 22.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 23, 2019 at 03:44 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.