A process has begun in Bulgarian higher education that increasingly resembles not a simple organizational dispute, but a battle for legitimacy. On one side is the Rectors' Council, which has existed for 33 years. On the other - a group of universities that insist on a new model of representation and see in it an opportunity for more direct and effective protection of their interests. Both sides talk about autonomy, representativeness and the interests of universities. The divergence lies in the answer to the question of who and how this community should represent.
Papal Schism
In 1378, the Catholic world found itself divided between two claimants to the papal throne. Each has its followers, arguments and political support. The attempt to resolve the conflict through the Council of Pisa in 1409 even complicated the situation - instead of two popes, there were now three. (b.r. - Papal Schism is a schism in the Catholic Church that lasted from 1378 to 1417. It was also called the Western Schism, as well as the Great Schism, but the latter name also refers to the schism between Western and Eastern Christianity or the so-called East-West Schism, which is why the Papal Schism is specified as the Great Western Schism. It is a kind of continuation of the so-called Avignon Papacy (the period from 1309 to 1377, in which the seat of the popes was moved from Rome to the French city of Avignon and there was no pope in Italy, but only in France)
Thus, the rector's problem is not simply who is right. The problem is who has the legitimacy to speak on behalf of everyone. Now the dispute begins with legal and organizational issues - what the Council should be, how it should function, who should participate in it and how to make decisions. But behind all this lies the greater battle for the representation of Bulgarian universities – whoever is the “rector pope“, first among equals.
Now, a part of the rectors believe that the old structure no longer works, and this gives them reason to seek change. Another part believes that behind this change lies an attempt to weaken or replace the existing representation, and they simply have reason to defend their position.
And the danger is different
When instead of one common center of representation, two appear, the question inevitably arises of who is the “real”. And when both sides begin to claim legitimacy, the organizational dispute turns into an institutional conflict.
This is exactly what happened during the Papal Schism – the dispute gradually moved away from the original issue and turned into a struggle for recognition, for power.
The Bulgarian Universities obviously have different interests. Large and small, state and private, specialized and multi-specialized higher education institutions cannot always look in the same direction. This is not a problem. The problem would be if these differences led to a permanent institutional division. Because then the state would not be talking to one academic community, but to competing representations, each of which would claim to speak on behalf of all. Thus, the dispute that began with the claim to make the rector's voice stronger could end with its division. The papal schism has been going on for nearly four decades, let's hope the rector's will not have to count the years.
Let's hope that Bulgarian universities will have one common voice that can be heard, and not several voices that mutually dispute their right to speak on behalf of all, because this is no longer an organizational dispute - but a simple rector's schism.