Two people of Roma origin and an activist who fought a two-year battle to ban course material they found racially offensive at one of Hungary’s most respected universities have finally won an apology and the promise of a scholarship for a Roma student.

A Macedonian former student at Hungary’s Corvinus University and another Roma student from Moldova and the Hungarian activist joined forces to complain about anti-Roma comments one of them discovered in a university course book at Corvinus.

Initial complaints in 2011 from Macedonian Nadir Redzepi fell on deaf ears at the university, which said the book’s author no longer worked there and that it wasn’t used. A later complaint to Hungary’s equal treatment authority was also rejected.

Mr. Redzepi then joined with Cristina Marian, a Moldovan law student at the Central European University, and her teacher Peter Molnar, who is also Mr. Redzepi’s legal representative and an activist. Together they sought an apology from the author but only got one from the university’s vice president earlier this month.

”This is just the first step in our efforts to increase the number of Rome people teaching and studying at universities, to put an end to discrimination and to widen the representation of the diverse Roma culture,” Mr. Molnar said.

The Roma make up Europe’s largest minority with a population of 12 million. Prejudice and anti-Roma attitudes are widespread in central and eastern Europe, which have included attempted segregation in schools.

Vice President Zoltan Szanto said the university will offer a new scholarship to a Roma student starting in September for a Master of Arts degree in sociology. It will also include Roma mentorship on its curriculum to raise awareness and fight prejudice.

“People aren’t used to challenging things like that. I’d like to set an example: let’s show that it can be done, so that others can do it next time,” Mr. Redzepi said.

Mr. Redzepi, now a project manager at the Open Society Institute, was pleased with the university’s action but has pledged with Ms. Marian and Mr. Molnar to continue their fight. An appeal against the equal treatment authority’s rejection of the complaint was made and the team ready to go to the European Court of Human Rights.

“We want to give courage to all Roma students and teachers to stand up for their rights in similar cases,” Ms. Marian said.

Source: Wall Street Journal
Date: 14.06.2013