TSU Students Protest Corrupt Spending Policies

TBILISI - Several hundred attendees of Georgia’s top university launched a major protest earlier this week railing against the institute’s alleged corrupt spending policies, including the provision of funds to privileged student government members.

Tensions at Tbilisi State University (TSU) peaked Friday as protestors clashed with security guards and police after demanding full transparency and immediate oversight over the student government’s use of university funds, which they allege have been misappropriated and used for special kickbacks and benefits for certain members of the student administrative body.

The protesters claim that members of the student government enjoy exclusive access to the university’s financial support system to sponsor expensive outings instead of being properly allocated to the general student population, which has resulted in several individuals being forced to drop-out, as they were unable to pay the required tuition fees.

The protests have been organized by an umbrella organization of various local NGOs and social movements under the title Students Against Education Policy (SAEP).

“These protests are against the student government’s unchecked privileges and monopoly on funding. Members of the student government use this money to go on expensive holidays or take part in trainings at five-star resorts. All of this goes on while the university has a multitude of serious problems, including a lack of Georgian-language textbooks or the increasing number of student drop-outs due to their inability to cover tuition fees,” Irakli Kupradze, an activist from SAEP, said.

SAEP claims in an online report posted on their Facebook page that the student government received 19,000 GEL ($7,900) in December 2015 for a training project in Georgia’s winter ski resort Bakuriani.

The group also claims the student body received 24,600 GEL ($10,300) from the university’s budget for unspecified purposes.

The protestors demand that TSU’s authorities, as well as the rector, be held accountable for the student government’s actions and a cap be put in place on all future expenditures made by the university’s elected bodies.

On Thursday, both the rector and student government appeared to ignore the protestors’ demands and attempted to move ahead with a hotly contested vote to elect the university’s new chancellor – a position whose duties include managing TSU’s budget.

Violent clashes broke out as protestors successfully shut down a plenary session of the university’s senate; preventing it from electing a new chancellor. They claim the lead candidate for the position, Giorgi Gaprindashvili, must have his name withdrawn for being complicit in the misappropriation of funds as a sitting member of the student council.

The protestors also accuse Gaprindashvili of having muzzled a 2011 investigation into the beating of students by other fellow members of the council.

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili weighed into the matter on Friday and requested that Gaprindashvili suspend his candidacy in order to avoid inciting further conflict with the student protestors.

Gaprindashvili, however, ignored the calls to withdraw his candidacy, going on record as saying he has no intention of abandoning his goal of being named chancellor.

Buoyed by newfound support from students at the nearby Ilia State University and several members of the university’s faculties, the demonstrators responded to Gaprindashvili by vowing to continue their protests until their demands are fully met.

By Tamar Svanidze, Nicholas Waller

Photo: Anna Gvarishvili/Netgazeti