Budapest, June 26, 2018 – Having fulfilled its obligations under Hungarian law and faced with the Hungarian government’s continuing refusal to bring the lex CEU matter to a conclusion, the university’s Board of Trustees, at their June 23 meeting authorized CEU to open recruitment for Budapest for the academic year 2019-2020, according to the University’s regular recruitment schedule. They also strongly re-affirmed their commitment to the university in all circumstances.
An official letter from New York State authorities, released today (attached below), confirms that CEU is indeed offering higher educational activities in the State of New York, and is thus in full compliance with lex CEU. The CEU Board approved extending and developing CEU’s programs in New York.
Following the Board’s decision in March to authorize the opening of a campus in Vienna, a development consistent with CEU’s history as a multi-site university, the Board also approved the rental of an appropriate site in Vienna and recruitment for that site for September 2019.
President and Rector Michael Ignatieff said, “CEU is delighted by this clear statement of commitment by the Board to CEU, to Budapest and to the defense of academic freedom.”
Chairman of the Board Leon Botstein added, “The Hungarian government has repeatedly said that once we fulfill the conditions of the new law, we will be fairly treated and that CEU will be able to operate in Hungary. Now is the time for Hungary to follow through on these commitments.”
CEU Board of Trustees:
Leon Botstein (President, Bard College, New York)
Richard C. Blum (Investment banker, Blum Capital Partners, L.P., San Francisco)
Gerhard Casper (President Emeritus, Stanford University)
Attila Chikan (University Professor, Corvinus University, Budapest)
Carol T. Christ (Chancellor, University of California, Berkeley)
Jonathan R. Cole (John Mitchell Mason Professor, Columbia University, New York)
Antonio Foglia (Board member, Banca del Ceresio Group, Lugano)
Patrick Gaspard (President, Open Society Foundations, New York)
Benjamin W. Heineman, Jr. (Distinguished Senior Fellow, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University)
Michael Ignatieff (President and Rector, CEU)
Monica Macovei (Member of the European Parliament)
Margaret MacMillan (Professor, University of Toronto)
Kati Marton (Author and journalist, New York)
Pierre Mirabaud (Financier, Geneva)
Peter A. Nadosy (Managing Partner, East End Advisors, New York)
George E. Pataki (Governor of New York State, 1995-2006)
Shalini Randeria (Rector, Institut für Wissenschaft von Menschen, Vienna)
Louise Richardson (Vice-Chancellor, University of Oxford)
Alexander Soros (Founder, Alexander Soros Foundation, New York)
George Soros (Chairman, Soros Fund Management LLC, New York)
CEU COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
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