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The new framework law on education, which will be presented in coming days, is to put an end to university asylum. The law virtually eliminates this kind of "immunity" as it is not contained in the text. Thus, asylum ceases to exist as a legal term. It was officially approved in 1982 in the first framework law on universities, and 30 years later it became one of their modern bleeding wounds.

The Minister of Education Anna Diamandopoulou with the support of specialists in constitutional law and criminal law professors will try to find a solution of the long lasting efforts of politicians and academics to resolve the issue of asylum without affecting its historic value and academic importance.

The solution was found. Just the issue of asylum is not mentioned anywhere in the new framework law. There will be no committees to provide asylum, neither premises to determine it, nor responsible persons for its disposition. In other words, the law will introduce the statute before 1982, when there was no legal framework to protect the asylum.

According to one of the professors involved in the working committees in the Ministry of Education, "if the issue of university asylum is not mentioned anywhere in the law, then its legal importance and status will not apply. Thus, it would remain a moral norm. The university heads will be able to seek police assistance when necessary without any complications. There will be neither responsible committees, nor complicated procedures to require a prosecutor to intervene."

Some colleagues of his share the opinion that the media should cease to present the asylum as a major problem of Greek universities. However, the issue was in the media quite often in recent years, the latest example being when the immigrants occupied the Law School in Athens last January. Vandalizing, "building up" offices doors to isolate a professor, the occupations and use of premises as "asylum" by different groups have become synonymous with the word university. A typical example is the case with the Rector of the University of Athens Christos Kitas, who was forced to resign three years ago after being attacked by groups occupying the building of the rector’s office.

The new framework law effectively removes the legal effect of university asylum, without referring to it. Later, any university would be enabled to decide whether it wants to include in the internal regulations rules for exercising it and, of course, take the responsibility for their implementation. It is believed that the regulation will be accepted by the university community, as there many people who want to solve this problem.

University asylum has been a point at issue in Greece since the last century. Despite the discussions that started in the mid 1970s it was not included in the law, therefore, it had no legal but moral basis only.

The asylum was first legalized in 1982 in the framework law on universities, voted by the PASOK government and none of the ministers dared to "touch" it until 1997, when the government of New Democracy determined what specific areas and premises it covered. A year ago, the same party has formally requested the cancellation of asylum.

Minister Anna Diamandopoulou presented for her part four proposals for changes in the law of 1997. She urged all universities to specify the premises in which lectures and research are held and are "covered" by the meaning of asylum, to describe the premises occupied by individuals and to determine how universities would protect their intellectual and material property. Moreover, the Minister insisted the university to provide in university regulations an "on duty" procedure enabling the Rector's Council to be informed on time when there are obstacles to the free exchange of ideas.

However, the universities have not responded to these proposals and once again broke in their initial stage the renewed efforts to tackle the problem.

But if the regulation for university asylum could cause reactions, the decree, which provides the assessment of university teachers, is expected to seriously disturb the academic circles. According to information contained in To Vima newspaper, if a professor does not pass the first assessment test successfully, his or her salary will be reduced by 65% The new framework law provides assessment every five years following international standards. If the university teacher does not perform well, he or she will be moved to another position in the public sector. The meeting of Rectors next weekend is expected with significant interest, although universities can not respond to the vote on the law in time in practice, because they do not work during the summer. Therefore, the meeting of Rectors is their last chance to rebel or to agree with the heads of the educational institution.