Students demanded the dismissal of a Sofia University professor for racist lectures

Professor Mirchev insists that he will not resign and will not change a word in his lessons.

Racists, xenophobes, anti-Semites and even with Nazi theories, this is how the students of the University of Sofia define the lectures of the political scientist Prof. Mihail Mirchev. In an open letter to the rector of the university, Professor Anastas Gerdjikov, and the Minister of Education, Krassimir Valchev, they demanded that the professor be fired if he did not leave alone.

“The conferences held so far have been full of racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic content, which violates the principles on which university education is based,” the students of the Student Society for Equality of the University of Sofía, an organization that fights against discrimination and violence in the academic world. by Alma Mater.

“Among the many racist and offensive examples it offers to its students are the grades against Roma, refugees and migrants, blacks, Afghans, Pakistanis, Arabs, Turks, Pomaks, Jews, etc.,” the student organization wrote. they even point to a specific example from the lectures. “Primitive cultural norms from the 7th century” is a definition Professor Mirchev uses for Pakistanis and Afghans, and immigrants in Italy call it an “aggressive and reluctant to integrate” minority.

Professor Mirchev described the quotes as out of context and did not deny that he had spoken each of the words mentioned in the letter. “Things are very exaggerated. They make very ugly grades, extremely political. They have no foundation,” the professor told 24 Chassa, explaining that he had never had such a problem in his practice. The controversial lectures are from the discipline “Social work with ethnic groups”, which Mirchev has been teaching for 3 years, they train future social workers and together with distance education they are uploaded to YouTube and can be freely viewed by anyone.

“I claim that some minorities do not live in the 21st century. Some of them live in the 1930s. There are extreme cases of minorities in Europe and Bulgaria living as if they were in the 7th century. The fact is that some of the refugees do not they want to and cannot join in. It’s about France, Austria, “explains Professor Mirchev and is convinced that he will not resign and will not change a word of his lectures. No one from management has spoken to him about that yet.

“For us, such language is an unacceptable violation of academic principles and of the society in which we live. It is unacceptable that future social workers are indoctrinated in racist, anti-Roma, anti-Turkish and anti-refugee rhetoric,” the students said in a letter. . Professor Mirchev does not know these students and has not spoken with them. “There are all kinds of students and I admit all kinds of opinions, even those that do not agree in principle. In my lectures I constantly try to provoke them. There is nothing wrong with arguing about the issues, but they cannot blame me for such qualifications. “said the lecturer.

Hours after the students’ letter was posted on Facebook, an online subscription was organized to remove the professor. It included left-wing organizations, those defending the rights of Roma, former and current students of the University of Sofia. In the rooms below the publication, however, a dispute broke out, some reproached Professor Mirchev, but others defended him.