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“THE ‘ETERNAL CANDIDATE’ — THAT WAS ME”: INTERVIEW WITH KAROLY BARD
it was clear from the outset that they would amount to nothing. Basically, the
quality of our work was assessed on the basis of how much money we wasted. It
was Soros’ money, and I felt really bad about this.
Central European University (CEU)
V. Z. K.: You have been teaching at the Central European University since 2001,
moreover, during these years you were programme director, head of department
and pro-rector. How did your relationship with the university begin?
K. B.: András Sajó and Yehuda Elkana, the rector of CEU at the time witnessed
what was going on in COLPI and that I was feeling out of place there. Meanwhile,
at the CEU Department of Legal Studies they were looking for someone to take
over the development of the human rights programme from Gabor Halmai. So
COLPI and CEU reached an agreement and step by step, I transferred to the
university full time.
From the first moment on, I felt at home at the Legal Studies Department. Of
course, at the time I started working at the university as a guest lecturer, it was
still based at the Hiivésvélgy campus and things were really different. For example,
not all students were proficient in English. At the same time, the university was
equipped with cutting edge technologies.
You know, for the longest time I felt committed to ELTE out of a sense of loyalty
to the university. I also felt it was important to publish articles in Hungarian. I
helped build the Department of Criminal Procedure in Gy6r, which gradually grew
out of ELTE. All in all, I tried to stay close to ELTE.
No matter how much I liked working at CEU, for a long time I felt I couldnt
fully integrate into the fabric of the university. Ihis must have been in part down
to the fact that the Council of Europe and the OSCE kept sending me on trips
abroad to help prepare or consult on other countries! criminal legislation. And
ELTE also remained a part of my life. Moreover, the Department for Legal Studies
has always been a little different and thus stood slightly apart from the rest of the
CEU departments. That’s why it came as a surprise when I was asked to become
the pro-rector for Hungarian and European affairs.
V. Z. K.: Perhaps it’s no overstatement to say that over the last twenty years,
your life has been intertwined with the fate of CEU. How did you take the political
conflict that erupted between the Hungarian government and CEU and led to the
adoption of a legislative amendment which virtually made the Budapest operation
of the university impossible?
K. B.: For a week or two after the news broke, I thought, maybe something good
can come out of this predicament, so that it can be an opportunity for renewal and
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