The Academic Senate criticizes the rector of AVU

Prague - Academics criticize the rector of the Academy of Fine Arts (AVU) Jiří T. Kotalík, claiming he manages the school unprofitably and circumvented the academic senate when establishing the Center for Media Theory, Cultural Techniques, and Philosophy of Art. In an open letter, which ČTK has available, senate chairman Tomáš Vaněk called this out to Kotalík. Kotalík told ČTK that he had not yet read the letter dated November 11, and therefore would not respond to it.
     "For a year and a half, you have been unwilling to take a clear stance on the overpriced contract for equipping the new media studios and the digital laboratory until the matter was brought for investigation by the Office for the Protection of Economic Competition. AVU has thus officially become an unreliable institution with suspicion of creating a corrupt environment," claims the head of the academic senate.
     Regarding the establishment of the center for media theory, Kotalík reportedly set it up in June this year without the academic senate having previously discussed it at any time. By law, the senate decides on the establishment of faculty workplaces on the proposal of the dean.
     The senate also criticizes the rector for not yet announcing a tender for a cleaning company, although a working committee recommended this to him in light of finding savings. It is said that refreshment vending machines have also been operated at the school for years without a contract, making it impossible to determine how much it cost the school or what profits it generated.
     "The school behaves unconceptually, untrustworthily, and arrogantly towards the academic community," Vaněk stated in the letter, noting that neither the rector nor the bursar can guarantee that the university’s finances will not end in deficit. Kotalík will reportedly have the opportunity to explain all these issues at the next meeting of the senators.
     Art historian Kotalík has led the school since February 2010, and the term lasts four years. Kotalík previously led AVU for two terms from 1997 to 2003. His reelection was not appreciated by some students of the school, who claimed it testified to a conservative trend in the school's direction.