On January 4, 1907, Prince Ferdinand closes the Sofia University. The reason is that the previous day, students booed him at the opening of the National Theater.
Decree No. 2 was signed by Prince Ferdinand only a day after the events and published by almost all newspapers. The short text provides for the temporary closure of Sofia University and the dismissal of all professors, and because of the booing of the prince, two bailiffs were dismissed. The Prime Minister was personally assigned the task of implementing the emergency measures.
Shortly after this, the Minister of Education, Professor Ivan Shishmanov, also resigned, unable to accept the decision to close the Alma Mater. Shishmanov's resignation put an end to the most successful reform ever carried out in Bulgarian education.
In his place came Nikola Apostolov, who decreed the opening of the university with “completely new teachers“. The academic year 1907/1908 began with foreign teachers and former high school teachers. The events had their echo in society and the subsequent reaction was very indicative.
According to Assoc. Prof. Todor Popnedelev, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of History, 7 students enrolled with 70 teachers. The university reopened its doors only at the end of January of the following year, 1908, just a few weeks after the formation of a new government of the Democratic Party led by Alexander Malinov, which reinstated the old teachers.