The board of trustees of Brusov State University (BSU) voted to reappoint Karine Harutiunian as BSU rector on December 9. Harutiunian defeated another candidate for the post, Davit Gyurjinian, who enjoyed government support.
Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Hambardzum Matevosian, who headed the BSU board, and Education Minister Vahram Dumanian were sacked three days later. Media reports suggested that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian thus punished Dumanian and Matevosian for their failure to install the government-backed candidate.
Later in December, Armenian prosecutors opened two criminal cases in connection with the BSU vote. For its part, Pashinian’s government refused to validate Harutiunian’s reelection, alleging vote irregularities strongly denied by the rector and other BSU board members. The board was dissolved as a result.
The government announced on Wednesday that Gyurjinian, the defeated candidate, has been appointed as acting head of the university specializing in the teaching of foreign languages.
Many university professors and students expressed outrage at the decision. Tigran Torosian, a former parliament speaker heading BSU’s Political Science Chair, condemned it as illegal.
“Their move today proves that they are doing everything to replace Karine Harutiunian by Davit Gyurjinian,” Torosian said during an emergency meeting of the university faculty.
“We want to be run by the rector who was elected by us and the faculty,” said one of the students boycotting classes.
Gyurjinian, who is also the chief of the Armenian Education Ministry’s Language Inspectorate, and Education Minister Zhanna Andreasian met with the university staff later in the day. The two officials were escorted by dozens of police officers as they made their way into the university building in downtown Yerevan.
“I expect support from all of you,” Gyurjinian told the staff.
Tsolak Akopian, a BSU deputy rector, argued with Andreasian during the meeting, saying that he will challenge Gyurjinian’s appointment in court. The minister responded by warning that the government will scrutinize the legality of decisions made by the university administration.
Representatives of the protesting students said, meanwhile, that the boycott will continue on Thursday.
They as well as Akopian claimed that the government decided to arbitrarily install Gyurjinian because it wants to to press ahead with its controversial plans to merge BSU with two other state-run universities.
Those plans triggered angry street protests by BSU students last fall. Harutiunian, the deposed rector, backed the protesters.
Pashinian and his associates pledged to give universities more freedom from the government when they swept to power in 2018. But in 2021, they pushed through the parliament a bill that empowered the government to appoint most members of university boards. Armenia’s Constitutional Court declared the bill unconstitutional a few months later.
