Letter to President of Hungary in support of CEU from the International Students of History Association (ISHA)
Dear Mr. President,
As the International Board of the International Students of History Association, we are writing to express solidarity with Central European University and our strongest condemnation of the Hungarian Parliament’s passage of amendments to the Hungarian national law on higher education (Act of 2011/CCIV) on the 4th of April 2017, that include legislative changes to CEU’s status in Hungary.
The International Students of History Association (ISHA) is a non-governmental, politically neutral international student organization of students of history and is being present on more than 40 universities in 25 European countries. Our roots lie in the year 1989, when the Iron Curtain which had divided Europe for over forty years, began to fall. In this climate of rapid political change, a group of Hungarian students took the initiative and started contacting their colleagues in different countries. They wanted to found an association that would allow students of history to come into contact, cooperate and exchange ideas, something that had not been possible before. On the 9th of May 1990 ISHA was founded in Budapest (Hungary) and our goals have remained the same since then: to facilitate communication and to provide a platform for the exchange of students, both for historians and those of related sciences on an international level. We believe that international perspectives constitute an important part of every student’s education.
The Central European University has been one of the member institutions and greatest supporters of our founding section and one of our most active sections: ISHA Budapest. Furthermore, many members of ISHA and ISHA Budapest are currently studying or had already graduated at the CEU. We also have to underline that the CEU made our discipline - History - better and richer with its attitude, infrastructure and events. ISHA Budapest organised our previous international academic event, namely ISHA New Year Seminar ‘Xenophobia and Solidatity’ (January 9-15, 2017) in cooperation of the CEU, the Faculty of Humanities of the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE BTK) and the Faculaty of Humanitites and Social Sciences of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University (PPKE BTK). This seminar was one of the most important scientific student conferences of the country and the region dedicated to this topic, which could not have happened without the significant academic, financial and infrastructural support of the CEU.
The history students of Budapest proved that with an open, innovative and cooperative attitude, Budapest can be a respected venue of international events, which could be milestones in the improvement of young researchers and can help the channelling of the Hungarian scientific life into the international sphere.
Now, the International Board and members of the International Students of History Association want to express their solidarity and support for the CEU. These legislative changes endanger the academic freedom vital for CEU’s continued operation in Budapest and strike a blow against the academic freedom that enables all universities, including those in Hungary, to flourish. Furthermore, the acceptance of the amendments to the Hungarian National Law on Higher Education would set a dangerous precedent for academic life and scientific excellence and would compromise all the basis, values and goals for which our association was established and is still standing for in Hungary and in Europe.
We respectfully ask you, as the President of Hungary to not to sign the T/14686 Modification of the Hungarian National Law on Higher Education (Act of 2011/CCIV) and enter consultation with Constitutional Court for making its judicial review, bearing in mind the damage such legislation might do to Hungary’s well-founded international academic reputation, to its relationships with its European partners and with the United States.
Yours sincerely,

Acting-President of International Students of History Association
on behalf of the International Board of ISHA
Budapest, April 5, 2017