| Summary: | Extracts from Polish underground publications compiled and translated into English by the RFE Polish Publication Unit for broadcasting purposes. Introductions to most articles are provided by RFE staff, and items are compiled in issues based mainly on theme and date.
A Red Normalization - Or Universities To Go Underground?[from: Most, no. 2 (March 1985)]"Most" [The Bridge] is a new journal published by Solidarity members. The following excerpts are from an interview with an unnamed member of the Warsaw University Senate on the impending passage through the Sejm of drastic amendments to the Law on Higher Education. The current law allows considerable autonomy in academic matters and appointments in Polish universities and other institutions of higher education. It also provides for democratic elections of rectors and deans, although the authorities reserve the right of approval, as shown in 1984 by their refusal to agree to the appointment of the elected rector of Warsaw University, Professor Klemens Szaniawski. The details of the proposed amendments have been circulating in the underground since the autumn of 1984 and are widely opposed in the academic community. There were protests against it at Wrocław University on May 29 and in Kraków's JagelIonian University on June 3. An example of the crackdown on unbending academics is the recent dismissal from the Polish Academy of Sciences of Professor Bronislaw Geremek, a medieval historian and a Solidarity advisor. Although a number of Polish academics have lost their teaching jobs since the imposition of martial law in December 1981, the dismissal of a member of the academy is unprecedented.
Universities, the Beginning of the End?[from: Tygodnik Mazowsze, no. 118 (21 February 1985)]The following article in the Warsaw underground Solidarity weekly describes opposition by the academic community to the proposed changes to the Law on Higher Education.
Universities Opposed to Amendment[from: Tygodnik Mazowsze, no. 120 (7 March 1985)]The Solidarity underground weekly for the Warsaw area reports further protests against the proposed amendment to the Law on Higher Education.
The Activities of the Social Committee for Learning[from: KOS, no. 69 (17 February 1985)]The anonymous underground Social Committee for Learning (Spoleczny Komitet Nauk - SKN) was founded in May 1983. Its aim is to monitor and counteract official attacks on the academic community and Polish learning. This brief item in the biweekly underground paper of the Warsaw-based Committee for Social Resistance describes some of the practical steps taken by the committee. An announcement that scholarships and grants provided by the committee were available also appeared in the large-circulation Solidarity weekly "Tygodnik Mazowsze," no. 119, of 28 February 1985.
Gdańsk Schools[from: Promieniści, no.14/15(53/54) ( 2 April 1985)]"Promieniści" interviews a representative of the independent school students' movement in Gdańsk, Sopot, and Gdynia. "Promieniści" [The Radiant Ones] is published in Kraków and has been appearing regularly since September 1982.
Conversation with a Teacher, a Member of the Team for Independent Education[from: Tygodnik Mazowsze, no. 123 (28 March 1985)]"Tygodnik Mazowsze" interviews a member of the Underground Team for Independent Education.
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