...In April 2009, Poland witnessed a politically based attempt on the independence
of universities and the freedom of scientific inquiry. It began with the publishing of a political biography of Lech Wałęsa, the leader of Solidarity and the second Polish president, based on the master’s dissertation of Paweł Zyzak, history student at Jagiellonian University. The dissertation included some disturbing facts regarding Wałęsa’s cooperation with the communist intelligence in the 1970s, as well as mentioned abuses of power during his presidency, mostly related to a cover-up of his early faults. The majority of these incidents have been widely discussed in the past; however, they received new prominence with Wałęsa’s return to politics and his support of Prime Minister Tusk against the Kaczyński brothers.
The book was instantly attacked by the political milieu of the daily paper
Gazeta Wyborcza and the PO party, but was defended by the PiS camp, eager to
question the integrity of one of Prime Minister Tusk’s most prominent supporters.
Minister of Science Barbara Kudrycka (PO), called for an immediate investigation at the history department at Jagiellonian University, threatening its accreditation.
Her action was widely interpreted as an attempt to punish the oldest university in Poland for allowing one of its students to reveal uncomfortable facts from the life of the government’s current ally. The prime minister initially supported this initiative, but the protests from academics, journalists, and opposition politicians led him to reverse the decision and denounce the minister’s overzealousness. Nevertheless, three weeks later the government attempted to scrap almost US$63.4 million (twothirds) of public funds for the construction of Jagiellonian University’s new campus.
Eventually, the government-sponsored changes to the Multi-year Program for the
Creation of the Third Campus to Celebrate the 600 Years of the Rejuvenation of
the Jagiellonian University Law were rejected by the Polish Senate...
