Luc Heuschling, law professor and constitutional expert, and Benoît Majerus, history professor, have published an open letter in the Luxemburger Wort that calls on fundamental governance policies of the university to be reformed.
While the pair do not take a position regarding the recent articles and reports about harassment, conflicts of interest, and dysfunctions at the university, they observe that the bodies responsible for listening, mediation, and representation seem not to be fulfilling their roles. People would not feel the need to turn to the press, otherwise.
The professors also believe that attempts to discredit those speaking out – by claiming they want to harm the university or overturn power relations – do not correspond to the principles the university itself promotes about how to handle harassment. They further criticise the treatment of the press, especially in light of a broader trend of discreditation across many countries.
Heuschling and Majerus see a “structural discomfort” in the university’s strongly hierarchical and insufficiently democratic organisation. The current university law embeds decision-making in a largely top-down manner, they argue.
Their open letter then proposes the 25th anniversary be used as an opportunity to revise the law, with the aim of creating a more collegial governance structure for the university – one with stronger checks and balances on power and greater involvement of the university community in decision-making processes.
