site.btaTensions Remain High after Meeting between National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts Rector and Protesting Students

A meeting between National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts (NATFA) Rector Prof. Miroslav Dachev and students seeking his resignation took place at the National Student House on Wednesday. It was organised by the Ministry of Education and the National Representation of Student Councils after tensions led to 15 consecutive days of protests.

The students are demanding transparency regarding NATFA's participation in the European FilmEU alliance, including the reasons behind the ongoing procedure to remove the academy from the alliance, the actions taken, the financial consequences, and the potential risk to NATFA's participation in the Erasmus+ programme. The protesters are also calling for the immediate end of institutional pressure, greater transparency and accountability, and genuine student participation in the decision-making process on issues affecting their rights and the future of the academy.

Dachev denied the existence of any repression, dismissals or withdrawal of support, noting that the academy's participation in the European FilmEU alliance would continue. "There has never been any danger to FilmEU, there is institutional support and there is also a letter. In Brussels, this issue has not been raised at all," he said.

Asked how many people are enrolled at NATFA, given that 300 are protesting, the Rector said there are 800 students. He added that he would seek dialogue with the protesting students if they agreed. "If there is no dialogue, we will consider what decision to make. The problem is that it has already gone beyond NATFA. If someone had thought about the institution's image, this would not have been allowed to happen," he told journalists after the meeting.

Asked whether the meeting had gone according to his expectations, Dachev replied that he had not expected a constructive dialogue but hoped that one would take place at future meetings.

Toni Penchev, a representative of the protest's Initiative Committee, told journalists after the meeting: "If there are 800 people at NATFA, the number of signatures has already exceeded 430 - all of these signatures are calling for the Rector's resignation. The remaining 78 signatures are for withdrawal - they are applications to suspend student status."

The students attending the meeting stressed that they wanted an immediate resignation of NATFA's Rector.

"The reasons why we are demanding the Rector's resignation are his demonstrated arrogance, the months of silence, failure to take responsibility and outright lies," Penchev said. Asked what violations the Rector had committed, he replied that "we are talking about financial violations, violations in procedures for appointing associate professors and other violations". "We requested all of this information under the Access to Public Information Act, but we cannot distribute it," Penchev said.

"We were subjected to pressure for a prolonged period by the NATFA leadership because of our protest actions and demands. Some of our lecturers were subjected to reprisals and referred to ethics committees for exercising their civic rights. I would not say that FilmEU is the main issue - it is an accumulation of many serious problems. Personally, I believe the biggest problem is a moral and ethical one - the repression of lecturers and students. There is nothing worse than that," Penchev added.

Asked what actions the students would take next, he replied that they would continue their protest activities within all legal frameworks. "If necessary, we will expand our efforts to other institutions. If necessary, we will invite other universities to join us and become part of the protest, because this threatens the entire higher education system," he added.

During the meeting, students repeatedly asked the NATFA Rector whether he would resign on Wednesday. Dachev said that he had been elected by the General Assembly and that this issue should be decided by the General Assembly.