Šių metų gruodžio 2 d. 35 mokslų daktarai ir profesoriai, įvairių mokslo organizacijų nariai iš Vokietijos, Belgijos, Rusijos, Čekijos, Italijos, Prancūzijos, Lenkijos, Šveicarijos, Danijos, Suomijos, Jungtinės karalystės, Izraelio ir Jungtinių Amerikos Valstijų kreipėsi į Lietuvos Respublikos Švietimo ir mokslo ministrą bei į kitus aukščiausių Lietuvos politinės valdžios institucijų bei susijusių įstaigų vadovus dėl susiklosčiusios kritinės padėties Lietuvių kalbos institute.
Mums, baltų kalbų tyrimams neabejingiems užsienio lingvistams, vienaip ar kitaip tenka bendradarbiauti su Lietuvių kalbos institutu. Mums kelia susirūpinimą pastaraisiais metais pastebimai smukęs fundamentinių tyrimų lygis kadaise buvusiame žymiausiame lietuvių kalbos tyrimų centre. Mums regisi, kad dėl to kalta tiek Instituto vadovybės palaikoma į atsitvėrimą nuo pasaulinės lingvistikos nukreipta kalbos mokslo politika, tiek ir čia diegiamos mokslo įstaigai nederančios vadybos praktikos, kurių rezultatas − mokslo raidai itin nepalanki baimės ir suvaržymo atmosfera Instituto mokslininkų bendruomenėje, apie kurią mes pastaraisiais metais tolydžio girdime bendraudami su lietuvių kolegomis konferencijose, skaitydami lietuvišką spaudą arba sužinome kitais būdais. Apie šiuos ir kitus negerus dalykus minime savo Peticijoje, kurios pirmasis tikslas, suprantama, ne pateikti išsamią mokslo padėties Institute analizę, bet atkreipti aukščiausios Lietuvos politinės valdžios dėmesį į jau ir iš toli pastebimus sisteminius mokslo politikos iškraipymus aukščiausią, valstybinį, statusą turinčiame mokslo tyrimo institute, kurie šią įstaigą pastaruoju metu sparčiai veda į degradavimą ir tarptautinę izoliaciją.
Vos vieną kitą Lietuvių kalbos instituto darbuotoją galima sutikti tarptautinėse lingvistikos konferencijose ar skaityti jų straipsnius, publikuotus tarptautiniuose recenzuojamuose žurnaluose. Vienintelis neabejotiną tarptautinį pripažinimą turintis Instituto profesorius Akselis Holvoetas buvo pašalintas iš jo 2010 m., ir tai kelia mums susirūpinimą.
Lietuvių kalbos institutas, biudžetinė įstaiga, Lietuvos valstybės lėšomis kaupianti dialektologinės, kalbos istorijos ir leksikografijos archyvus, šia medžiaga neleidžia naudotis kitiems mokslininkams mokslo tikslais. Dalykai, kurie yra savaime suprantami pvz. Vokiečių kalbos institutui (Institut für die Deutsche Sprache Mannheim), yra neįmanomi LKI. Europos sąjungoje siekiama padaryti lengvai prieinamą visą mokslui naudingą informaciją (plg.. CLARIN projektas), tuo tarpu LKI tiktai kaupia medžiagą ir jos naudojimą riboja net savo darbuotojams.
Nerimą kelia ir daugelis žinių iš Instituto mokslininkų kasdienybės – jau keletą rudenų iš eilės vėluojančios algos arba „nemokamos atostogos“, akademinės etikos ir kitokių pažeidimų gausybė. Šia Peticija kreipdamiesi į valdžios institucijas, geranoriškai tikėjomės diskretiško, abipusiu pasitikėjimu paremto, bendravimo, Tačiau pirmiau nei atsakymo iš tų institucijų, į kurias kreipėmės, sulaukėme keistos reakcijos iš Lietuvių kalbos instituto valdžios atstovų, kuriais Peticijoje ir reiškiame nepasitikėjimą. Instituto tarybos vardu prof. Sergėjus Temčinas Peticijos signatarams išsiuntinėjo savo sudarytą „klausimyną“, kuriuo kiekvienas signataras tikrinamas, kokius jis žino peticijoje apibendrintai nusakytus neskaidrumo ar kitų pažeidimų atvejus ir tarsi kviečiamas „geranoriškai bendradarbiauti“ tikrinant (suprask − paneigiant) Peticijoje išdėstytus faktus.
Tokia negirdėta ir reagavimo į peticijas įstatymą pažeidžianti praktika mus, šį dokumentą rengusius, nemaloniai nustebino ir verčia manyti, kad atmosfera toje įstaigoje yra netgi blogesnė nei manėme iš pradžių. Todėl nusprendėme savo peticijos tekstą perduoti žiniasklaidai, idant joje minimos problemos nebūtų sprendžiamos tik formalaus atsirašinėjimo keliu. Norime pabrėžti, kad intensyvėjant tarptautiniam bendradarbiavimui su Lietuvos mokslo įstaigomis, mokslo organizacijų ir darbo santykių atitikimas Europos normoms nėra kurios nors šalies „vidaus reikalas“. Mes tikime, kad Lietuvos Vyriausybė, šio Instituto steigėja, yra pajėgi pati padaryti objektyvų tiek mokslinės, tiek finansinės veiklos auditą, kuriuo patikrintų Peticijoje minimus nusižengimus ir kuriam išvadų „nesufleruotų“ LKI administracija ir jos atstovai. Audito objektyvumui užtikrinti „stebėtojais“ galėtų būti pakviesti abiejų pusių atstovai.
Pagarbiai
Dr. phil., PhD Ilja A. Seržant
Academic employee, DATO Project Leader
University of Konstanz
Department of Linguistics,
Zukunftskolleg, Box 216
D-78457 KONSTANZ
Germany
Professor für Slavische Sprachwissenschaft
Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität
Institut für Slavistik
Jakob-Welder-Weg 18
D- 55099 Mainz
Germany
__________________________________________________________________
Peticijos tekstas:
November 29, 2013
To:
Prof. Dr. Dainius Pavalkis
The Lithuanian Minister of Education and Science
Ministry of Education and Science
A. Volano g. 2, LT-01516 Vilnius, Lithuania
Via e-mail: ministras @ smm.lt
With a copy to:
Mrs. Dalia Grybauskaitė
The President of the Republic of Lithuania
S. Daukanto a. 3, LT 01122 Vilnius, Lithuania
Via
Virginija Būdienė
Chief Adviser to the President
Via e-mail: virginija.budiene @ president.lt
Mr. Algirdas Butkevičius
The Prime-Minister of Lithuania
Via e-mail: algirdas.butkevicius @ lrs.lt
Mrs. Loreta Graužinienė
The Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas
Klaipėdos g. 7-43, Ukmergė m.
Via e-mail: Loreta.Grauziniene @ lrs.lt
Mrs. Audronė Pitrėnienė
The Chair of the Committee on Education, Science and Culture of the Lithuanian Seimas
Vilniaus g. 13-316, Skuodas m.
Via e-mail: Audrone.Pitreniene @ lrs.lt
Prof. Dr. Dainius Haroldas Pauža
The Chair of the Lithuanian Research Council
Via e-mail: dainius.pauza @ lmt.lt
And to other interested persons
PETITION
Regarding the re-election of the director of the Institute of Lithuanian Language (Lietuvių kalbos institutas) as well as the future strategy for the institute
Dear Prof. Dr. Dainius Pavalkis,
the signatories of this petition are seriously concerned about the internal situation found in the Institute of Lithuanian Language (Lietuvių kalbos institutas, LKI). As the initiators of this petition have learnt repeatedly, the administrative and scholarly atmosphere in the Institute is far from adequate regarding both human resources and scientific standards in a public institution such as this one.
To start with, the scholarly level of the Institute, as we are able to judge from the representation (or rather lack thereof) of its employees in internationally recognized scientific journals or symposia, has deteriorated during the last several years. The research activities of the Institute are not up-to-date with the current agenda of linguistic studies of Baltic languages, and efforts to raise the level of research have been hindered rather than supported by the administration (see the Holvoet case on which we elaborate below). International collaboration between the Institute and scientific institutions abroad are lacking to a degree far below what should be expected.
Many scholars are experiencing considerable difficulties in collaborating with the Institute of Lithuanian Language. In several cases, the data that are stored in the archives of the Institute of Lithuanian Language have not been made accessible or were only vaguely promised to be made accessible at best to a very limited extent. For example, Prof. Dr. Björn Wiemer, who has recently become the leader of the TriMCo research project funded by the German Science Foundation, since 2010 and to today’s date has not been granted access to the dialectal records of Lithuanian even after the mediation together with the German Embassy in Lithuania. The reasons as to why access has been refused have, so far, not been disclosed by the authorities of the LKI. At the very least, this practice dissuades international collaboration on high levels of scientific research, and we wonder whether the authorities of this academic institution of Lithuania might be uninterested in intensifying and supporting the study of Lithuanian linguistic (and thus cultural) heritage, and why they might, instead, be interested in international isolation.
All this concerns us greatly since we believe that the Institute of Lithuanian Language could and should have been one of the best internationally recognized and leading centers of research on Lithuanian and Baltic languages in general. Unfortunately, the reality is that it is not even up to the standards of scientific institutions of the European Union. We are convinced that one of the major causes of this situation is to be sought in the policies and practices of the Institute's administration.
As just one example of the destructive policies of the Institute’s current administration, we would like to draw your attention to the publicly known case of Prof. Dr. Axel Holvoet, a top international scholar who has been investing his efforts and expertise into the development of modern theoretical linguistics in Lithuania for the last two decades. In March 2010, Prof. Holvoet was not approved for his position as the head of the Grammar Division (Gramatikos skyrius), allegedly because of losing the open tender for this position. We strongly believe that the tender was not evaluated objectively and the selection committee did not assess the candidates thoroughly and fairly. This decision was extremely damaging to the reputation of the Institute of Lithuanian Language. Needless to say, the research level of the Grammar Division has considerably decreased since then, especially as, in fact, no official replacement for Prof. Holvoet has been elected since 2010.
Furthermore, through discussions with various employees, the initiators of this petition have learned that formal contracts that would clearly state their rights and duties as well as rights and duties of the administration are often not provided. This practice then seems to result in various arbitrary acts and decisions on the part of administration. Apart from often not being paid salaries on time, we are informed that employees are not kept abreast of the activities of the administration (sometimes even about the fact that their positions are considered vacant). The Institute’s financial activities are not transparent, which gives rise to allegations of possible misuse. It would seem that scholars are not free to express their opinions concerning the activities of the administration, and those brave enough to openly express their discontent or disagreement are then threatened with termination.
Finally, the Director of the Institute of Lithuanian Language, Dr. Jolanta Zabarskaitė, is currently taking part in a tender to be elected as the Director of the Institute of Lithuanian Language for the third time consecutively even though this position was originally only eligible for a maximum of two terms. Notably, the option for the third term has been introduced during the time that Dr. Jolanta Zabarskaitė has been the Director of the Institute of Lithuanian Language. This is, in our view, in blatant contradiction to the principles of good governance.
In view of the aforementioned facts, we believe that the reelection of Dr. Jolanta Zabarskaitė as the Director of the Institute of Lithuanian Language would not be justified either with regard to the future scientific development of the Institute of Lithuanian Language or with regard to the internal situation in this institution. We are also certain that, with these facts in mind, you will see how imperative it is for subsequent internal changes to be supported.
We would like to emphasize the importance of this institution for the research on and the development of the Lithuanian language nationally and internationally. The work that could be achieved in partnership with the Institute of Lithuanian Language is too important to continue to be compromised in this manner. We therefore ask for your support in ensuring that necessary changes are made to enable further collaboration and research on all levels.
Further to this, we hope that this petition is received in the spirit in which it is intended; namely as an incentive to truly go and investigate what has been happening in the LKI in an objective manner. We would very much like to be wrong in some of our assumptions and, if, after an objective investigation of the facts mentioned above, this is the case, we look forward to receiving clarification on these points.
For obvious reasons of discretion we have purposely selected only foreign signatories.
Signatories (alphabetically):
______________________
1. em. Prof. Mag. Dr. Werner Abraham
Universität Wien, Allg. Sprachwissenschaft
Studies in Language/LA/SLCS/SDG
http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_series_list.cgi?t=
www.stauffenburg.de
http://www.let.rug.nl/abraham/
______________________
2. Peter M. Arkadiev
- PhD, senior researcher, Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian
Academy of Sciences;
- Assistant Professor, Institute of Linguistics of the Russian State
University for the Humanities;
- Leading researcher, Institute of Modern Linguistic Research of the
Sholokhov Moscow State University for the Humanities.
Leninskiy prospekt 32A
119334 Moscow
Russia
______________________
3. Julia A. Arskaja
Assistant Professor
Chair of Russian Language and General Linguistics
Irkutsk State University
Russia
______________________
4. Kasper Boye, Associate Professor, PhD
Linguistics
Department of Scandinavian Studies and Linguistics
University of Copenhagen
Njalsgade 120
DK-2300 Copenhagen S
Denmark
_____________________
5. Prof. Greville Corbett, AcSS, AE,
Fellow of the British Academy
Distinguished professor of Linguistics
Faculty of Arts & Human Sciences
University of Surrey
Guildford
Surrey, United Kingdom
GU2 7XH
______________________
6. Nina Dobrushina, Assistant Professor
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Philology
Myasnitskaya 20
110000 Moscow,
Russia
______________________
7. Francesca Fici - Professor of Slavic Linguistics
Università di Firenze
Italy
______________________
8. Doc. Dr. Mirjam Fried, Chair
Department of Linguistics
Charles University
Faculty of Arts
nám. J. Palacha 2
Praha 1
Czech Republic
______________________
9. PD Dr. Natalia (Wladimirowna) Gagarina
Programmbereichskoordinatorin
Projekte: PB2, BIVEM, DiscourseBiSLI, Tell_Imp, COST, FREPY
Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft
Schützenstr. 18
D-10117 Berlin
E-Mail: gagarina @ zas.gwz-berlin.de
Webseite: http://www.zas.gwz-berlin.de/mitarbeiter_gagarina.html
Germany
______________________
10. Lucyna Gebert, Professor of Slavic Linguistics,
University of Rome "La Sapienza"
Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00161 Roma
Italy
______________________
11. Doc. Dr. phil. Markus Giger
Univerzita Karlova v Praze – Filozofická fakulta
Ustav východoevropských studií
tel./fax: (+420) 221 619 272
http://uves.ff.cuni.cz/node/604
nám. Jana Palacha 2
CZ-116 38 Praha 1 Josefov
Czech Republik
______________________
12. Prof. Dr. Jasmina Grković-Major
Department of Serbian Language and Linguistics
Faculty of Philosophy
Dr Zorana Đinđića 2, 21000 Novi Sad,
Serbia
tel. +381 21 459-626
______________________
13. Zlatka Guentchéva
Senior Researcher Emerita
LACITO (Languages and Civilizations with Oral Traditions)
at CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Reaserch, France)
7, rue Guy Môquet
F- 94801 Villejuif (France)
______________________
14. Professor, dr. phil. Peter Harder
Inst.f. Engelsk, Germansk og Romansk/
Dept of English, Germanic and Romance Studies
University of Copenhagen
DK-2300 Njalsgade 130
Copenhagen S
Denmark
______________________
15. Prof. Dr. em. Bernd Heine
Fellow of the British Academy,
Institut für Afrikanistik
Universität zu Köln
D 50937 Köln
Germany
______________________
16. Juniorprofessor Ph.D. László Károly,
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz,
Seminar für Orientkunde
Hegelstraße 59
D-55122 Mainz
Germany
______________________
17. Dr. Petar Kehayov
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of Regensburg /
University of Tartu
______________________
18. Dr. Leonid Kulikov
Ghent University
Faculty of Arts and Philosophy
Linguistics Department
Blandijnberg 2
9000 Ghent
Belgium
______________________
19. James E. Lavine
Professor of Linguistics
Director, Linguistics Program
Bucknell University
Pennsylvania, USA
______________________
20. Prof. em. Volkmar Lehmann
Universität Hamburg
Institut für Slavistik
Von-Melle-Park 6
20146 Hamburg
Germany
______________________
21. Dr. Natalia Levshina
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
F.R.S.- FNRS
Université catholique de Louvain
Institut Langage et Communication
Pl. Blaise Pascal 1 bte L3.03.03
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Belgium
______________________
22. Prof. dr hab. Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewicz
Department of General Linguistic, East-Asian Comparative Linguistics and Baltic Studies
Faculty of Polish
Uniwersity of Warsaw
Editor-in-Chief of “Baltic Linguistics”
______________________
23. Dr. Liina Lindström, Researcher
University of Turku & University of Tartu
Department of Finnish and Finno-Ugric Linguistics
Henrikinkatu 3
20014 Turku
Finland
______________________
24. Thomas Olander
Associate Professor, Ph.D.
Roots of Europe
Department of Scandinavian Studies and Linguistics
University of Copenhagen
Njalsgade 120
DK 2300 Copenhagen S
Denmark
_____________________
25. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Anneli Sarhimaa
Northern European and Baltic Languages and Cultures
Dept. of English and Linguistics,
FB05
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
DE-55099 Mainz
tel. +49(0)61313923081
Sekr. +49(0)61313923080
Fax: +49(0)61313923973
______________________
26. Prof. Dr. Habil. Irena Sawicka
Instytut Slawistyki PAN
00-337 W-wa, Bartoszewicza 1B/17
tel. +48 535 330 166
Poland
_____________________
27. Dr. Lea Sawicki
Dept of Linguistics
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Mt. Scopus
Jerusalem 90905
Israel
_____________________
28. Dr. Ilja A. Seržant (Academic employee, DATO Project Leader)
University of Konstanz Department of Linguistics,
Zukunftskolleg, Box 216
D-78457 KONSTANZ
Germany
______________________
29. Krzysztof Stroński, Ph.D. D.Litt., Asisstant Professor
Chair of Oriental Studies
Adam Mickiewicz University
Ul.28 Czerwca 1956 nr. 198
61-485 Poznań
Poland
______________________
30. Doc. Dr. Bohumil Vykypěl, Senior Fellow
Institute of the Czech Language
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
Veveří 97, CZ-60200 Brno
Czech Republic
http://www.ujc.cas.cz/zakladni-informace/pracovnici/vykypel-bohumil.html
______________________
31. Dr. Ruprecht von Waldenfels
waldenfels @ issl.unibe.ch
Institut fuer slavische Sprachen und Literaturen
Universität Bern
Laenggassstr. 49
CH 3005 Bern 9
Switzerland
______________________
32. Prof. Dr. Daniel Weiss
Professor für Slavische Sprachwissenschaft
Universität Zürich
Slavisches Seminar
Plattenstr. 43
CH-8032 Zürich
Switzerland
______________________
33. Prof. Dr. Björn Wiemer
Professor für Slavische Sprachwissenschaft
Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität
Institut für Slavistik
Jakob-Welder-Weg 18
D- 55099 Mainz
Germany
______________________
34. Prof. Dr. Alena Witzlack-Makarevich
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
Christian-Albrechts-Platz 4
24118 Kiel, Germany
______________________
35. PhD Natalia Zaika
Senior Researcher,
Institute for Linguistic Studies,
Russian Academy of Sciences
Tuchkov pereulok 9, 199053.
Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Reply to:
Prof. Dr. Björn Wiemer wiemerb PRIE uni-mainz.de
Dr. Ilja Seržant ilja.serzants PRIE uni-konstanz.de