The Eastern Mediterranean University Academic Staff Union (DAÜ-SEN) announced it will hold a protest and press statement outside the university rectorate in Famagusta at 13:00. The union contends that the non-renewal of contracts for academic staff aged over 65 violates the existing collective bargaining agreement and the Academic Personnel Staffing and Employment Regulations.
DAÜ-SEN also alleged that criteria not stipulated in current regulations are being applied to appointments of senior lecturers and distinguished professors. According to the union, a decision taken by the Board of Trustees on the rector's recommendation has not yet been shared with faculty deans or department heads, despite being made a week ago.
The union warned that the decision could result in faculty-approved staff members being replaced mid-semester — something it described as unprecedented in EMU's history. "This is incompatible with academic seriousness and institutional functioning. Our students will suffer the most," the union stated.
DAÜ-SEN argued that treating long-serving academics in this manner contradicts the values of human-centredness, belonging, and solidarity that the university publicly promotes on its own website. The union called for genuine dialogue to be reopened and for the matter to be resolved in line with regulations, the collective agreement, and academic principles, while demanding an end to what it described as arbitrary practices.
