UNAIR NEWS – To seek input on current issues faced by the university, Rector of ¶«¾©ÈÈ held a dialogue with representatives alumni of ¶«¾©ÈÈ. This event was held in the house of Rector UNAIR Jl. Dr. Soetomo Surabaya, and because it was held in Ramadan, there was great religious atmosphere on Friday, June 1.
°Â³ó¾±±ô±ðÌýngabuburit (waiting for the time for iftar), UNAIR Rector Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nasih, SE., MT., Ak., CMA., opened the dialogue event by reading Pancasila text together as it was held coincided with Pancasila’s Birthday June 1st. The reading of the Pancasila was led by Cak Ahen (Agus Hendrawan Budi Sulistyo), IKA-UA board.
Besides the Rector, there were also Vice Rectors and other university leaders. There was also Chairman of IKA ¶«¾©ÈÈ Drs. Ec. Haryanto Basoeni with other IKA board members, complete with representatives of IKA of faculties and some regional commissariat.
In this event, Rector wanted to get input from the alumni related to the issues that are “addressed” to campus academic communities. For example about campus suspected of being exposed to radicalism, election, and other issues.
Regarding to the election issue, the Rector affirmed that ¶«¾©ÈÈ position is neutral, impartial and not leaning towards one of the parties / contestants. With 38,000 students and about 1,800 lecturers, he admitted, it is impossible to fully control the community. In campus, those thoughts are appreciated academically.
“Lecturers have academic freedom in research and scientific publications, so that academic freedom should be used in a responsible manner according to the competence of their research,” said Rector.
Rector also confirmed that UNAIR strongly rejects accusations of campus being exposed to the idea of ​​radicalism, or activities that are beyond the academic realm as none of the subjects in UNAIR teaches radicalism, either in religious education, coaching and student activities. It is possible from a few thousand students, some of them have other ideas, but it is personal and cannot be generalized with the institution.
For example, student takes 18 credits. So he is on campus only for three to four hours. It means not 100% in campus. Outside campus they may gain non-academic understanding, for example from the internet and from social media.
“So there should not be allegations for campus as radicalism nest. Instead we are making every effort to keep campus off terrorism, “said Prof. Nasih.
Since the reformation, there is indeed more “liberal” campus life, so there are many thoughts and activities developing. The academic world also studies certain ideology scientifically. For example, studying socialism, capitalism as an economic flow. In the field of political science studying forms of government, political ideology, communism, and so on as part of academic learning. And in UNAIR there is no course that teaches radicalism, including in the guidance of student affairs directorate.
“So if among them it gets radical ideology outside campus, for example via the internet, social media, so blame the internet and the social media. So, it is irrelevant labeling the campuses as nests of radicalism, “said Rector.
With such introduction, inputs were widely shared by the alumni. Dialogue lasted for two sessions, before and after tarawih prayer. Alumni with different competence participated in the dialogue. All inputs were collected by the Rector for further studies. (*)
Author: Bambang Bes
