In a conversation with “Republic” Dr. Hab. Krzysztof Koźmiński, who represents the injured parties in the case of Varsovia University – former Collegium Humanum, spoke about the struggles of his clients. “[Sprawa] It concerns violations not only of civil law (failure of the university to fulfill agreements with students, the issue of the liability of the university and the State Treasury for damages), but also of administrative law (disregard of public law obligations by the university, omissions on the part of public authorities), as well as constitutional law (violations of systemic rights and freedoms – e.g. the right to education, as well as the principles of legalism, proportionality and others)” – commented one of the three plenipotentiaries.
“University paralysis”. Students and graduates struggle with problems
“Our clients are in different factual situations, but all of them are suffering as a result of the paralysis of universities that has been going on for many weeks. Some passed their diploma exams, others are trying to enforce the university to enter their outstanding grades or issue other documents,” commented Dr. Hab. Koźmiński, claiming that the problem of the victims is that they were in the “wrong place at the wrong time.”
“I would like to add that there are many officials among them, teacherspeople working in parallel, whose studies were co-financed by an external entity (and are currently demanding a refund), the employer dismissed them or threatens to dismiss them due to failure to complete their studies, etc. This situation is a source of serious professional and personal problems, including depression,” he stressed in an interview with “Rz”.
The case of the former Collegium Humanum is being handled by the prosecutor's office. The attorney wants the guilty to be punished
“We simply want compliance with the law to be restored and for the university to resume its operations. And for state authorities to finally take an interest in this, which until now have been hiding behind ongoing prosecutorial proceedings,” added the legal adviser. Dr. Hab. Koźmiński also stated that he is “an advocate of harsh prosecution and punishment of the guilty.”
“And this should be the order of things here: administrative procedures and civil law contracts are carried out, and if the investigation reveals that a crime has been committed – the court steps in with full severity. prosecutorthe proceedings are resumed, verified, etc. But this is not an excuse for a situation in which several, a dozen or so thousand people suffer and find themselves in a 'legal trap'” – the attorney emphasized further. His clients only want to complete their studies in accordance with the procedures or continue them. However, they are unable to do so, because it is still impossible to recover documents from the former Collegium Humanum.
CBA at Collegium Humanum. In the background, the diploma trade
As we have already informedCollegium Humanum, a private university established in 2018 in Warsaw, offered rapid coursesthanks to which it was possible to obtain an MBA diploma. In February, CBA officers detained seven people, three of whom were members of the Collegium Humanum authorities.. This concerned the Chancellor, the Bursar, and the Vice-Rector for Postgraduate Education. CBA informed that it was about the trade in diplomas on a mass scale. In mid-March, CBA officers detained two people in this case in connection with accepting financial and personal benefits. – If the law had not been changed in 2017, this procedure would not have happened. In 2017, the law was changed so that an MBA diploma entitled one to sit on the supervisory boards of State Treasury companies. When it started, someone simply made a big business out of it at the expense of students – commented Minister of Science Dariusz Wieczorek.