Borys Gudziak, rector of the private Ukrainian Catholic University with nearly 1,000 students in Lviv, is known not only for his knowledge of history and theology. Earlier this year, Gudziak created a sensation when he went public with a statement about the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, harassing his university. A representative of the SBU, the successor agency in Ukraine to the Soviet KGB, wanted the rector to warn his students that participation in peaceful protests and demonstrations will be prosecuted.
International journalists and pundits were alarmed by this case and interpreted it as a shift back to the totalitarian under President Viktor Yanukovych, who took power on Feb. 25. Later, however, the chief of the spy and law enforcement agency, Valeriy Khoroshkovsky, visited Lviv and assured Gudziak that the incident was a mare “excess by SBU executives” and this kind of situation will never happen again. The Kyiv Post spoke with Dr. Hudziak on Nov.1.
Kyiv Post: Dr. Gudziak, you’ve mentioned a struggle with the totalitarian past. Fo you see any of those totalitarian traditions coming back?
Borys Gudziak: I can say there are no recurrences and the totalitarian rule we had in the 20th century won’t be reintroduced. But we have to keep protecting our freedoms. And today there are a lot of challenges that should not be ignored.
KP: Where do these challenges come from – from the stronger state machine or people’s apathy and indifference?
BG: I think that the Soviet type of governance did its best in devastating and ruining interpersonal relations. We don’t trust each other. And when there is no trust, there is no sense of responsibility and the social structure falls apart. And instead of taking part in social processes, engaging in action, we lock our doors and stay inside. We lack that social endurance that would make us safeguard our spiritual and moral values.
KP: Why did those democratic traditions that we saw growing during the last five years faded away so rapidly?
BG: The democratic traditions in Ukraine are not mature. Let’s see how it was in the United States: slavery remained legal for 100 years after the Declaration of Independence. Afro-Americans could not enjoy their civil freedoms for another 100 years after slavery had been abolished. So the whole process took 200 years. Now let’s take a look at American oligarchs – the Rockefellers, the Carnegies. They were building their financial empires back in the 19th century, and they used all ways possible, up to plundering their rivals. It took several generations to get over it and now their grandchildren have become socially responsible and respected philanthropists. Ukraine still has a lot to do and I am sure in 100 years we’ll have a more substantial outcome and further generations will live in a democratic state. But it won’t happen automatically. We got to work hard and everybody has to understand that if you want to change something you should start with yourself. A lot of men here in Ukraine do not act responsibly, do not take care of their kids, so we got to learn how to build a strong healthy family. And when we put our house, our village, our town in order we’ll see that Ukraine is changing too.
KP: Maybe we should start with introducing changes into our education? Your university promotes Western traditions, yet a lot of Ukrainian schools still have this Soviet type approach to teaching, as a result, we have young people with an old type of mentality.
BG: The problems and shortcomings of our education system are not exclusive, they happen everywhere. When a patient comes to a Ukrainian hospital he never knows if they cure him or harm him. A lot of governmental agencies that are supposed to serve people do it all the way round and treat people like they have to serve the bureaucrats. Not to mention we have double standards in education. But the biggest evil, I think, is corruption. And the worst thing is when a small child knows that any good grade can be bought. Here is the source of many problems.
КР: Everybody in Ukraine (and far beyond Ukraine) knows about SBU’s visit to your university and their attempts to make you to cooperate. Why, do you think, they were interested in your university?
BG: I think they are interested in all students of all universities who demonstrate active social position. We only showed our reaction to that incident.
КР: But did they explain why they did so? How convincing were they?
BG: Yes, Mr. Khoroshkovsky visited me in Lviv and explained it was just an incompetence of some SBU officers. And I want to believe that our students’ social and political freedoms won’t be infringed.
КР: What do you think about Khoroshkovsky after having met him in person?
BG: We had a really quiet conversation. As for the matter of the conversation – let’s wait and see [if he keeps his word]. I think it was a good gesture of him to come to Lviv and I appreciate it and would like to have those communication channels open in the future. It’s really important for us to break this atmosphere of distrust inherited from the Soviet times. We are afraid to be open and I think we got to do something about it. I don’t want our university to act being driven by fear, I want us to be driven by openness, trust and cooperation.
КР: You are the only one university chairman who publicly told about this pressure. Do you have any message you’d like to share with your colleagues from other universities who feel pressure as well but don’t raise this issue?
BG: I am not in a position to teach other rectors – a lot of them are older than me, some are more experienced and they run much bigger schools. Besides, they are financially dependent on the government, on education ministry. Our university is getting nothing from the government so we are economically unprivileged but have some moral benefits [to act independently]. So I wouldn’t mentor them and tell them what to do. But I so want to express my moral solidarity with those rectors who protect their students.
Fr. Gudziak’s bio can be found here:
Kyiv Post staff writer Olesia Oleshko can be reached at [email protected]
