Appointed rectorate cancels Can Candan’s talk on documentary filmmaking at campus

* Photo: Ali Aktaş

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The appointed rectorate of Boğaziçi University has cancelled the talk of academic and documentary filmmaker Can Candan.

The event where Candan would talk about documentary filmmaking was to take place at Boğaziçi University campus today (October 25). However, the Boğaziçi University Cinema Club (BÜSK) announced on October 23 that the event titled "Documentary Adventure with Can Candan" has been cancelled by Vice Rector and Dean of Student Fazıl Önder Sönmez.

After Melih Bulu, the appointed rector of Boğaziçi University, was dismissed by a Presidential decree on July 15 amid wide-scale protests, Naci İnci, who was the vice rector of Bulu, was first appointed as the acting rector of the university by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK).

Shortly after his appointment as an acting rector, Naci İnci sent Can Candan a letter, informing him that he had been dismissed from the school.

Most recently, on October 11, 2021, Can Candan, who had been a lecturer at Boğaziçi University for 14 years, was not let in the campus upon the verbal order of the appointed rectorate.

The BÜSK has announced the recent cancellation of the event where Candan would talk about documentary filmmaking on Twitter under the hashtag #CanCandanYalnızDegildir (Can Candan is not alone).

Pazartesi günü yapmayı planladığımız etkinliğimiz son anda kayyum Fazıl Önder Sönmez tarafından Can Candan'ın kampüse girmesinin yasak olduğu gerekçesiyle engellendi. #CanCandanYalnızDeğildir pic.twitter.com/Fp34MRE2gQ

— bü(s)k (@bounsinema) October 23, 2021

The reason for the cancellation: Ban

The BÜSK has underlined that all necessary permits were received for the event beforehand. The club was informed about the cancellation on October 22, when police officers took 45 students into custody at the campus. As the reason for the cancellation, the rectorate referred to the "ban on Can Candan from entering the campus" of Boğaziçi University.

Can Candan has denounced the decision of the appointed rectorate: "I don't accept this arbitrary, unlawful decision which constitutes a violation of rights. No one can separate me from my students."

"academicus non grata" @UniBogazici #KabulEtmiyoruzVazgeçmiyoruz @bounsinema pic.twitter.com/LZ75Z2t2Ho

— Can Candan (@yunusunbabasi) October 25, 2021

What happened?

After Melih Bulu, the appointed rector of Boğaziçi University, was dismissed by a Presidential decree on July 15 amid wide-scale protests, Naci İnci, who was the vice rector of Bulu, was first appointed as the acting rector of the university by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK).

Shortly after his appointment as an acting rector, Naci İnci sent Can Candan a letter, informing him about his dismissal.

Can Candan, a documentary filmmaker, academic and faculty advisor of the BÜLGBTI+ Student's Club, which was closed by the appointed rector, had been filming and documenting the protests of Boğaziçi University faculty against the appointment of Melih Bulu for months.

Going to the South Campus of the Boğaziçi University for his open class on October 11, Can Candan was not let in the school.

Candan has shared the incident in a video on Twitter, briefly saying, "I was going to have the first meeting of my documentary filmmaking course with my students at the South Campus as an open class today. We, my spouse from the Department of Sociology and I, came here together in our vehicle. When they saw me, 'Professor, we cannot let you in.' When I asked the reason why, they said, 'There is an instruction from the Rectorate.' I now cannot have my open class which I was planning to have."

After the appointed administration dismissed Candan despite the decisions of the faculty and department, he announced on Twitter that he would be giving his classes FA 498 Documentary Cinema and FA350 Film Project, which he had been offering every fall semester for 14 years.

The first class of this semester was scheduled for October 11 at 10 am - 2 pm at the South Campus and would be broadcast online.

After his dismissal from Boğaziçi University, Can Candan said that this decision was, above all else, an attack on students' right to education and filed a lawsuit against the Rectorate of Boğaziçi University on August 13 and demanded the stay of the execution and termination of his dismissal. The İstanbul 2nd Administrative Court has dismissed this application by concluding that the related action "was in conformity with the law."

(DŞ/SD)