15/01/2024 | Writer: Selma Koçak
Ankara 9th Administrative Court cancelled the provision of METU Rules and Regulations Governing the Dormitories, which protects the “public morality”.
The Ankara 9th Administrative Court annulled many articles of the regulation, which the rectorate had kept on the university’s website despite a previous stay of execution order.
According to the news coverage of ÜniKuir, the court cancelled the METU Rules and Regulations Governing the Dormitories, which tends to criminalize all kind of actions of the students and was put into effect by the University Senate in 2022. Articles regarding “public morality” or “insulting university administrators on social media”, which leave the future of the students living in dormitories to the mercy of the METU rectorate and the dormitory administration, have been removed from the regulation.
Almost 30 clauses in 10 articles were annulled
In its decision, the Court stressed that leaving the determination of disciplinary offenses to the administration could lead to arbitrary practices. The justification of the decision included that students who are the subject of sanctions should have an understanding of what actions will be the subject of sanctions.
Several students had filed lawsuits seeking the annulment of METU’s dormitory regulations. As a result of the lawsuits, a stay of execution order had been issued in April 2023.
In this case, the Court ruled that the Regulation was unlawful, but also directly ordered the repeal of the Regulation, annulling almost 30 clauses of 10 articles of the Regulation.
The clause regarding the “public morality” was annulled
As a result of the court’s decision, students will no longer be punished on the grounds of “behaving in a manner contrary to public morality in the dormitory” and “posting insulting messages about the university administration on social media.”
In addition, the provisions at the end of each article, which left the offense open rather than defining it, such as “engaging in behavior similar to the acts and situations listed above”, were removed by the Court’s decision. Within the scope of the Regulation, it was stated that “hanging unauthorized writings, posters and visuals in places other than those designated by the dormitory administrator would be punished with a warning” and “hanging flags, using symbols, singing anthems and carrying ‘ideological pictures’ in dormitories contrary to the law and relevant regulations would be grounds for dismissal from the dormitory”. This article was also removed by unanimous vote of the court members.
Tags: human rights, education
