Greece’s Papandreou Moves to End Threat From Angry Student Groups

With an eye on France, Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou--once a professor at student-torn UC Berkeley--has intervened personally to end an unexpected political threat to his Socialist administration--student power.

In a rare move, Papandreou publicly reversed his education minister following demonstrations outside the premier’s suburban home and agitation among student groups. It came in time to prevent student riots last week.

Papandreou, a former economics professor at Berkeley, reversed Education Minister Antonis Tritsis’ decision not to allow student transfers between universities.

Tritsis claimed the support of university rectors in wanting to end such transfers, which have overloaded limited resources in the more popular universities of Athens and Salonica at the expense of universities and polytechnics in the provinces.

Papandreou, already confronting a sharp drop in his ruling Socialist PASOK Party’s popularity after five years in power, feared Tritsis’ necessary but unpopular move could have sparked student unrest.

Politically Active

The successors of the pupils of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle have long been active in the Greek political scene, but usually as champions of the left.

A student uprising in November 1973 marked the beginning of the end for the military junta of rightist dictators George Papadopoulos and Dimitrios Ioannides.

The Socialist government championed student rights when it first came to power in 1981, and declared Nov. 17, anniversary of the student rebellion against the junta, a public holiday.

Papandreou said the driving force behind his policy of change was “the generation which found itself in the front lines of the struggle against the recent dictatorship.”

Today, however, the incumbent Socialists are on the defensive. Tritsis was given a rowdy reception in October when he refused to accept a student petition during a visit to the law school in Athens.

Angry Reaction

Tritsis reacted angrily, describing student agitators as “fascists” who would “pay for this.”

Opposition members of the New Democrat Party explain the new mood by saying there is a feeling of despondency in student ranks.

“Students for the first time have voted in (to office) a right-wing student union,” one said. “This is because they feel let down by Socialist pledges to improve education.”

Feelings in Greece’s 13 state universities, traditionally covered from top to bottom with political posters and daubed with political slogans, run high.

“Before Papandreou we had overcrowded lecture halls and inadequate facilities,” said Mihalis Voumvas, 26, one of about 100,000 students in full-time education.

“Five years later we have even more problems. The system has collapsed.”

Before the Socialists came to power, Greece’s educational system was based on the way the University of Berlin was run 180 years ago. A Socialist law three years ago abolished the “autocratic institution of the professorial chair.”

But the system is now attacked as being too democratic.

“Everyone--from students to professors--has a say in the running of the university,” said Harvard-trained columnist Christos Alexiou. “That means nothing is done, because unanimity is rare.”

Administrative problems of universities have been compounded by lack of funds. The proposed 1987 budget contains less cash for education in real terms next year.

“Students are angry,” said Voumvas. “That’s always dangerous for a Greek government.”