Alfred Bulai fired from SNSPA

The National School of Political and Administrative Studies has terminated the employment contract of Professor Alfred Bulai, following accusations of sexual harassment by several former students, announced the rector of the institution, Remus Pricopie.

“Today we received the decision of the SNSPA Ethics Commission regarding the complaints of sexual harassment brought to Professor Alfred Bulai. I informed the dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences, university associate. dr. Cristian Pîrvulescu, President of the SNSPA Senate, prof. dr. Iordan Bărbulescu, and the Board of Directors that, as Rector of SNSPA and in accordance with Art. 172 of the Higher Education Law no. 199/2023, implement this decision, with immediate effect. Therefore, I have signed the provision to terminate Alfred Bulai’s individual employment contract, starting today, August 6, 2024″, the rector of SNSPA, Remus Pricopie, said according to a press release.

“I signed with the known and unknown victims of one who, instead of being a teacher, a mentor to the younger generations, chose to violate the basic principles of any civilized community and subject several people to undignified and abusive treatment. I hope that the firm action of SNSPA against those who do not respect the ethical norms and the dignity of each member of the academic community will be an example for other universities or public institutions in Romania. In my three decades of professional experience, I do not know of another case of sexual harassment that has been resolved within 8 days from the time it was reported, in compliance with all legal requirements.

Unfortunately, Romania remains one of the countries in the European Union where misogyny, verbal aggression and sexual harassment are generally tolerated, due to the lack of institutional reaction and the lack of real civil or criminal instruments to punish the aggressors and protect the victims. This social disease, which manifests itself through misogyny, harassment or even sexual assault, cannot be eradicated without the testimonies of the victims and the involvement of all competent courts. We must stand with victims and their families, by all means at our disposal, and encourage them to expose any situation they consider abusive.

Today, while we are discussing the “Bulai case”, there are, unfortunately, other cases of sexual harassment in universities, cultural institutions, media, political parties, local authorities, police, sports, etc. which are not reported or which are tolerated through inaction. There is a need for a review of the entire legislation in the field – not only that specific to universities -, both in terms of administrative law, but also of criminal law. Without strong institutional and legal tools, there is no effective treatment for the phenomenon of sexual harassment. For example, as long as prescription occurs at an unimaginable speed and punishments, where applicable, are symbolic, the phenomenon of sexual harassment will continue to affect thousands of women every year, most of them at very young ages, without even these cases to be notified,” the rector pointed out.

“From the perspective of the university I lead, the topic triggered by the “Bulai case” does not end here. SNSPA will continue the analysis of the created situation, on several levels, in accordance with the legislation in force. On the one hand, the Ethics Commission will evaluate to what extent there are legal arguments to expand the research. Also, all the data collected at SNSPA will be sent quickly to the criminal investigation bodies, in order to contribute to the progress of the investigations already started. On the other hand, we are aware of the seriousness of the “Bulai case”, and identifying the internal vulnerabilities that allowed this to happen is fundamental to us. In this sense, we have started the procedures to carry out an internal audit, which will start from the Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Sociology, and which will have to give not only answers about what happened, but also propose measures for the future. It is important to know that the strength of an organization is given not only by its successes, but especially by the way it knows how to go through crises. Therefore, the immediate identification and treatment of slippages of any kind must be a priority,” Pricopie added.

SNSPA rector denied the accusation that “everybody knew” within the university about the Bulai and Pieleanu cases. “The claim that “everyone knew” is false and slanderous. There is no element to support it. Collective guilt only works in totalitarian regimes. Accusing in corpore an entire academic community, with thousands of members, and throwing mud at all the dedicated teachers of SNSPA can only be useful to those who have nothing to do with education, but possibly with the interests of extremist-radical politics, which The SNSPA has consistently fought them and will continue to fight them. Such generalizing and simplifying approaches, based on the opinions and impressions of those who comment on the sidelines, seriously damage the legitimate interest of Romanian education and society, as a whole, to take steps forward,” he argued.

Moreover, he stood up for some of the professors, including of Mihaela Miroiu, who faced the backlash of social media those days amid accusations that she would have been aware of the sexual harassment cases against some of her female students.

“The second is related to the unjustified attack on people who contributed not only to the construction of SNSPA as an institution, one of the most respected and appreciated Romanian universities internationally, but who defined concepts, attitudes and ethical norms in Romanian education. I am referring here to the founding teachers, but also to those who later joined the SNSPA project.

A particular example is that of Prof. Univ. Dr. Mihaela Miroiu. Today we would not be openly discussing bullying in schools and universities if Mihaela Miroiu, more than 20 years ago, had not drawn attention to a phenomenon widespread in Romanian society, but systematically kept “under the rug”. Mihaela Miroiu was also attacked in 2004-2006, when she publicly exposed the need to tackle the issue of misogyny in Romanian society head-on, starting with the political and scientific environment, up to the socio-economically disadvantaged environments. In 2005, Mihaela Miroiu proposed to the Ministry of Education the adoption of a Code of Ethics at the national level, which, a few months later, happened. At that time, there was not even criminal legislation, which was somewhat insufficiently supplemented almost ten years later. Therefore, to blame Mihaela Miroiu today, in 2024, for “lack of action” or “concealment” is as if we want to rewrite history. His work should be appreciated, not denigrated,” Pricopie stated.

“Finally, I want to assure the students and teaching staff of the university, but also the public opinion, of the fact that SNSPA has been, ever since its foundation, and will remain at the service of fundamental democratic values, at the service of the country and its citizens, both in the days clear, but also during a storm. SNSPA is more than a higher education institution. It is a community formed by people with common values ​​and aspirations, who contributed to the construction of what we saw around us today: a Euro-Atlantic Romania. History will record this distinctly. Our graduates have had and have a well-defined role in all that is public administration, politics, international relations, diplomacy, public space, public policies, and the list goes on. We want every student to know these things and to feel our concern for their safety and respect,” the SNSPA press release also states