Academic scandal being investigated, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University rector says

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Rector Arif Yılmaz has said the scandal of “published nepotism” occurred due to an “oversight” and it is being investigated. DHA photo

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Rector Arif Yılmaz has said the scandal of “published nepotism” occurred due to an “oversight” and it is being investigated.

A routine advertisement published via Turkey’s official Directorate General of Press Advertisement on newly opened positions at Rize’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University had caused a huge scandal, as it mistakenly included the names of the academics who were set to be chosen by the board on August 1.

“The people on the document are working at our university as assistant professors and they already have the right to become associate professors. It is not nice that their names were publicized by the media,” Yılmaz said.

The notice included a table with the six posts indicating the faculties where a new associate professor position had been opened. However, the final column, which was reserved for the criteria required for the post, contained the notes of the board due to an error committed by those preparing the advertisement.
 
The university also issued a written statement saying that the notice was published mistakenly and was not an official document.

“An administrative investigation has been launched concerning the situation,” the university said, adding that the document was only a draft schedule for faculty members who attended the examination for associate professorship.
 
The error revealed that the university’s board had, in fact, already determined the six names for each post that the notice was advertising.
 
For the post at the medical faculty, the box contained the name of Ahmet Pergel with the remark “He didn’t get the associate professor’s degree, to be asked.” Three other names contained the same “to be asked” note, while a note for an assistant professor in physics, Murat Tomakin, stated “Doesn’t have an authorization.”
 
Turkish Medical Association (TTB) General Secretary Beyazıt İlhan said the notice indicated the extent of arbitrary appointments in universities.
 
“Those who will be appointed to these positions are determined by those who put it on the newspaper. We are against the appointment of doctors who do not work at universities or train students as professors, and the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University is one of those universities that does this frequently,” he said, calling on President Abdullah Gül and Turkey’s Higher Education Board (YÖK) to take action.
 
“Preferential appointments have never been done so overtly. This is shameful for the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University. I invite all of our universities and academics to stand against such arbitrary practices,” he said.
 
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, meanwhile, simply stated that the notes on the ad were included by mistake.