September 26, 2012, Year 3, Issue 21

the CEU Weekly

An independent newspaper by CEU students and alumni

Rodrigo Avila Barreiro (TCW): Sir, thank you so much for ac-

cepting this interview. Talking to you is not only a pleasure but

also a legacy for future CEU stu-dents. Sir, you are president

emeritus of Stanford, and our University was lucky enough to

have you as member of the

Board of Trustees, a mission that

you fulfilled for the last 12 years.

Could you please tell us, what it means to you to be member of

the Board of Trustees of Central European University?

Gerhard Casper: Being a CEU board member is a privilege. It

was I who had all the luck. Univer-sity trustees normally serve institu-

tions that have been around for a while and have a distinct charac-

ter. For instance, I was a trustee of Yale University, which celebrated

its three hundredth anniversary at the time I joined the board. CEU,

on the other hand, is a young insti-tution that offers its trustees the

chance to share responsibility for the creation of something new and

different. When I became a mem-ber of the CEU board, it seemed

as if almost all days were ―first days‖.

PAGE 2

The CEU Weekly staff expresses their condolences and mourns the death of former CEU Rector, Yehuda Elkana. RIP

HUNGARY

NEWS

CEU students against do-

mestic violence

Page 4

Resolution against do-mestic violence - A Suc-cess story? Page 4

CEU

Community Student Tip # 66

66: There is a very handy application for

your smartphone called “Bpmenetrend” - it

contains all the schedules for the day and

night public transportation of Budapest

Hungarian Expression of the week

Phrase: Köszönöm szépen!

Pronunciation: Tricky. Ask a Hungarian

Friend:)

Translation: Thank you very much!

Interview with Gerhard Casper, former member of CEU’s Board of Trustees and president emeritus of Stanford University

Nocturnal Solidarity

Page 7

The GROUP WISE dis-

cussions you will

never have

Page 6

The Weekly Spam Re-

view

Page 5

Should we continue to use the Mankiw as text book to teach econom-ics? In his contribution, ―Disturbance in

the Force‖, Rustam Jamilov gives

some food for thoughts regarding

this question. PAGE 8

CEU students against domestic violence New academic year has just started and newly coming CEU students have

already proved thei r civic -mindedness by taking part in mass

protest for women rights in Budapest.

PAGE 4

RAB (TCW): And in a couple of words,

could you tell us what you consider to be the most beautiful aspect of CEU?

Gerhard Casper : Its truly international

character. I do not know of any other institution where the student body is as diverse in terms of nationalities as at

CEU.

RAB (TCW):Also, on your last visit to Budapest, during a lecture in your

honor under the title of “Revisited Constitutionalism”, our distinguished

President and Rector John Shattuck mentioned how your person and ex-perience at Stanford provided knowl-

edge and guidance on the challenges of leadership. Could you tell us what

was the biggest challenge you faced while serving as Stanford’s president

between 1992-2000, how did you face it, and if there is something you

would do differently? Gerhard Casper: For specific chal-

lenges, anybody can go to my website and read the speeches I gave while

president. Instead of singling out issues, I should like to stress that the biggest

task a university president faces is to make sure that the university never tires

of asking, on a daily basis, what can be done better. Also, the university and its leadership must always worry about not

losing the distinct ways of a university. The university is not politics or the mar-

ketplace. It has to march to a different drummer. The search for knowledge

must be carried out by critical analysis according to standards that themselves are subject to examination and reex-

amination. This all calls for a lot of ―gardening‖ every day. ―Getting out

the weeds when they are still small‖ and thinking very hard about what new

trees to plant. Gardening is the real challenge.

RAB (TCW): Very interesting, thank you for sharing that with us. And,

professor, could you expand on the “organic”

dimension of the Board of Trustees?

Members of the CEU community hear about the Board of Trustees, every-

body knows it is an important senior, but maybe many of us do not really

understand what its role is and how it works. What kind of conclave is it? How does the annual meeting of the

Board of Trustees look from the in-side?

Gerhard Casper: The trustees are fidu-

ciaries and their most important fiduci-ary obligation is to be concerned about

the institutional future, not just the pre-sent. Trustees need to be extremely well informed about their university and they

also have responsibility to worry about its reputation. Incidentally, the CEU

board meets three times a year. Since it is a small board, every trustee has a

chance to provide real input on policy issues.

RAB (TCW):And somehow related to the previous question, could we ask

you what your vision for CEU is? If you close your eyes and try to imag-

ine CEU within 20 or 50 years, what do you see?

Gerhard Casper: I like to look to the

future with open eyes. And the univer-sity will do well if it has its eyes open. I hope that CEU can maintain its charac-

ter as a graduate university in the hu-manities, social sciences, law, public pol-

icy, and business. What exactly that will mean in the future I do not know, but

what I do know is that CEU will strive, and must continue to strive, to have the best possible faculty and student body.

If quality of faculty and students are outstanding, almost anything great can

happen.

RAB (TCW):On a more general topic, we would like to ask you about your

ideas on how education should be conceptualized and implemented. Among many models, we can distin-

guish two different poles: on one hand the US model where education

(including the public one) is seen as a

commodity and has to be paid by stu-dents and, on the other, the German

model where education is seen as a right of every citizen and it is basi-

cally free. Which model do you like better, and why?

Gerhard Casper: I do not accept the contrast. German universities are not for

free: the taxpayer is asked to fund them, including for the well-off who

could afford to pay tuition. In American universities education is hardly a

―commodity‖. American universities are financed by a mix of sources, including government, philanthropy, and tuition.

We believe that those who can afford to should invest in their education. The

tragedy of American higher education is that the public universities are seeing

dramatic cut-backs in state support and therefore increasingly and indiscrimi-

nately expect everybody to pay tuition.

RAB (TCW): Thank you so much for

that reflection. And a final question: what do you like or enjoy the most in Budapest?

Gerhard Casper: The view of Buda from

the Pest side of the Danube.

RAB (TCW): Professor Casper, thank

you so much for accepting this inter-view. It was really enlightening to

listen to you. Any final word or mes-sage for the CEU community?

Gerhard Casper: John D. Rockefeller, who a hundred years before CEU pro-

vided the resources for the founding of the University of Chicago, once said

that the University of Chicago was the best investment he ever made. I hope

George Soros will and can say the same about CEU. His vision more than twenty years ago and the generosity of

his support since then brought about something that is truly out of the ordi-

nary.

RAB (TCW): Thank you again!

Interview with Gerhard Casper, former member of CEU’s Board of Trustees and president emeritus of Stanford University

Page 2

the CEU Weekly INTERVIEW

September 26, 2012, Year 3, Issue 21

About a month ago

three women from

the Russian punk

band Pussy Riot

were convicted of

―premeditated

hooliganism … mo-

tivated by reli-

gious hatred‖ and

sentenced to two years in prison. Suddenly, interna-

tional media outlets were not only taking interest in a

radical feminist art collective, but also the current

state of Russian politics.

Despite the justifiable outpouring of support for these

women, there has been little discussion of their impact

on the larger opposition movement, which has grown

steadily from social media sites to massive street pro-

tests in recent months. While many Russians were out-

raged by the Soviet-era trial and its harsh verdict,

Pussy Riot‘s provocative action still remains a point of

contention.

It all began on February 21, when a nun at the Or-

thodox Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow saw

Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and

Ekaterina Samoutsevitch cross themselves, bow and

approach the altar. They then started singing and

praying for the Virgin Mary to ―drive Putin away,‖

while also indicting the head of Russia‘s Orthodox

Church for worshiping Putin instead of God. It took

guards less than a minute to appear and remove them

from the building, but their performance, which is be-

ing called a ―punk prayer,‖ was recorded and has

been widely distributed on YouTube.

The group was destined to face not only the swift and

brutal hand of the Russian law, but also intense scru-

tiny from the general public. The notorious trio crossed

the line of morality and ethics when they walked onto

the holy altar. As one archpriest argued, ―They could

have expressed themselves in the streets, municipali-

ties and even the Kremlin, but not in the House of

God. Obviously, they have demonstrated a complete

lack of respect for hundreds of Orthodox Christians

and believers.‖

Opposition leaders have not overlooked this fact ei-

ther. As Alexey Navalny recently explained, ―I seem

to have missed the initial goal of the whole protest

action. Some prefer calling it a piece of art. I‘d rather

characterize their performance as a misstep.‖ Another

leading oppositionist, Oleg Kozlovsky, said ―It‘s very

dangerous when one fails to see the limits.‖

It should be noted, however, that the women claim to

be religious and had no intention of inciting religious

discord. They saw their act as a politically and so-

cially-motivated protest. As such, they have found

many supporters within the country, particularly in

educated circles. For instance, Russian historian and

human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva — who is

one of the few still active veterans of the Soviet dissi-

dent movement — criticized the trial for being politi-

cally motivated, biased and based on pure emotion.

―The Russian court,‖ she said, ―was not in line with the

law, common sense or mercy.‖ While attracting public-

ity to Pussy Riot‘s cause, the action may have also

given the opposition movement new energy by draw-

ing a considerable number of new people to get in-

volved in Russian and world politics.

Whether or not the fallout from the Pussy Riot trial will

help these efforts remains to be seen. As the eminent

sociologist Olga Kryshtanovskaya recently said, ―We

need some more fuel to light the fire, but Pussy Riot

may have harmed the opposition by taking away

some of its moral high ground.‖

Anna Derinova

IRES

Russia

Page 3

the the CEU Weekly DEBATE

Pussy Riot: “martyrs” or “unripes”?

September 26, 2012, Year 3, Issue 21

Page 4

the CEU Weekly

September 26, 2012, Year 3, Issue 21

HUNGARY NEWS

CEU students against domestic violence New academic year has just started and newly com-

ing CEU students have already proved their civic-mindedness by taking part in mass protest for

women rights in Budapest.

Two weeks ago Istvan Varga,

representative of Fidesz party, provoked waves

of anger and i n d i g n a t i o n

across Hungarian society. During

the night parlia-mentary discussion of the introduction of sanctions

against domestic violence to the Criminal Code he made sexist and even misogynist statement. Accord-ing to Varga, the only way to avoid domestic vio-

lence would be to remind women about their role in the family. It is women‘s emancipation, he said, that

made husbands lose respect towards them, so women should concentrate on raising children and

have not 2-3 of them, as presently, but 4-5.

Students of CEU department of Gender studies joined the reaction protest for women‘s right organ-ized by several NGO‘s on Tuesday, September

11th, and Sunday, September 16th.

―Since I live in Budapest now, I want to be involved as much as I can with the social and political life of

the country", comments Chris Zivalich (USA). "I want to support activist groups in Hungary in solidarity

against sexist remarks and legislation. It was an emotional experience, and though I could not under-stand what everyone was saying since it was in Hun-

garian, I could share their emotions and rage, and that was the most important part‖.

Dafna Rachok (Ukraine): ―Being engaged in student

and feminist movement in my homecountry, and being interested in current sociopolitical movements

worldwide, I could not just ignore and rest mute, when I heard what's going on in Hungary. I think, it is very important to be present at such events like one

on Tuesday or Sunday, as it is the way to show solidarity. And solidarity and support are beyond

borders”.

Maryna Shevtsova

GENDER STUDIES Ukraine

On September 17, shortly after

the protests mentioned above,

the Hungarian Parliament en-

dorsed the initiative to include

domestic violence as an inde-

pendent item in the criminal

code. Now the Parliament is

obliged to change the criminal

code accordingly, which is said

to happen by the end of this

year. The Élet-Érdek foundation

collected 100 000 signatures in

support of the resolution prior to

the controversial remarks of Ist-

ván Varga, but they could not

get the support of Fidesz. The

MPs initially declined the initia-

tive, arguing that the current

criminal code is already con-

demning domestic violence, al-

though it does not treat it as a

separate category of offense.

In the end it seems like the now

famous remark of Varga, and

the concerning reactions of the

civil society were the ones that

helped the initiative to go

through. The resolution was

passed with the support of all

parties, although only 21 Chris-

tian Democrats supported the

initiative, while ten abstained,

including party president and

deputy prime minister Zsolt Sem-

jén. After the vote, István Varga

apologized for his controversial

comment before to all MPs he

might have offended, and gave

roses to Élet-Érték foundation

president Pálma Halász and

LMP MPs Katalin Ertsey and

Tímea Szabó.

Some Fidesz MPs argued that

the whole debate misses the

point, pointing out that putting a

criminal offense in a separate

legal category will not reduce

domestic violence by itself: the

real problem is the endorsement

of the current laws. Changing

the approach of the police and

convincing more citizens to re-

port witnessed acts of domestic

violence to the authorities are

examples of the fields where

solutions can be found.

All in all, the protest can be

evaluated as a success story:

apologies had been made, and

a resolution that was previously

declined is now adopted. Civil

society revealed its teeth once

again, reminding politicians and

citizens alike that the people are

willing to take the streets to op-

pose injustices. Still, it is worth

thinking about related questions

concerning the issue, for exam-

ple whether the same success

could have been achieved with-

out the (un)fortunate sentence by

Varga, and to follow up the is-

sue by monitoring the actual ef-

fect that the resolution might

have on domestic violence.

István Varga carries the roses

of apology (MTI)

Resolution against domestic violence - A Success story?

Your “corner”

Have any comments, ideas, corrections? Would you like to adver-

tise a project? Write us at

ceuweekly@gmail.com and get yourself published!

Page 5

the the CEU Weekly CEU COMMUNITY

September 26, 2012, Year 3, Issue 21

Welcome to CEU people. Yeah, yeah you‘re probably so excited to be a part of this

unique institution, and looking forward to meeting new people, your professors, your

class readings and etc. You already have probably, anyway... However, what you will

not experience directly is being the actual subject of the stories about how it ―was‖ to

be a part of this community. Such as how bad was the smoke coming out of smoking

rooms in the dormitory… Now they do not exist anymore, so wait for the winter peo-

ple, it will be so good while non-smokers are laughing up their sleeves, and enjoying

their freedom!

Second thing you will not be a part of is

spam and the discussions revolving around

them. It basically means that unless it is al-

lowed (pre-registered), you cannot send an

e-mail to all of the community, even if you

think that e-mail contains crucial information

for CEU members. Who the hell are you to

decide that anyway? It is most certainly

better to sacrifice some important e-mails

to prevent mass delirium. Consider this as

the Patriot Act of CEU. It is really hard to

push the delete button after all. By the way,

if what I am saying here does not make any

sense to you, good for you!

Ok, I hope you enjoyed your wine in orien-tations, and started to visit Budapest nights

with your friends, after all that is something they cannot change; the government can

though (Yes, police might visit you if you are drinking your beer even you are just in front

of bar now.)

The raison d'être for this column was to get

involved with the spam going on in our e-

mail accounts. They stopped the spam, yet

its spirit shall live forever, thanks to good,

old, new and incredibly disturbing days…

The Weekly Spam Review

Follow us in Twitter and Facebook

@TheCEUWeekly

the the CEU Weekly CEU COMMUNITY

By now probably most of you, the recently arrived students,

must have their very own group wise accounts. This account will allow you to storage some data in the drive of CEU and

to communicate with some members of the community. Yes, that is correct, with some, but not with all members. This is so because the new CEU policy on spam emails determines that

technically you are not able to send an email to more than 50 recipients. However, this has not always been like this,

and there was a time when you could actually sent a mes-sage (or spam, if you wish) to all faculty, staff and, of

course, all MA and PhD students.

This decision was taken on the basis of the legitimate con-cerns of those who did not want to find their inboxes full of announcements of apartment for rent, train tickets on sale

and so on. However, there were also interesting debates that went well beyond possible market transactions, and this are

the ones we really care here. The community-wide discussions that used to take place in Group Wise illustrated the plural-

ity of our community and also how debate-prone we are.

So for example, it is hard to forget the time when somebody sent an email to everyone informing that a small group of people were planning to attend Bratislava‘s gay parade,

and that in case someone was interested to join, some seats were still available in the cars that would take them there.

Among the respondents, there was one who suggested that these people should go attend church on Sunday rather to

join the aforesaid parade. You can imagine the waterfall of responses and heated statements this generated. For those

who have a very hard time clicking the delete bottom in their inbox this was very inconvenient, but for many others it was a lovely and funny discussion to follow.

In a similar community-wide fashion, there were other emails that for example accused this newspaper of simply echoing

Israeli right wing views (nothing farther from the truth), or of simply be mocking different groups within CEU. Again, it was

an intense and very heated debate that showed how pas-sionate we are here at CEU. True, it was also possible to find

a good dose of non-sense, as when somebody sent an email asking for Asian looking people willing to participate as ex-tras in a movie, and someone replied that this was discrimi-

natory, and that everyone should be able to join, in spite of clearly been an scene that was suppose to take place only

among Asians.

Although it is understandable that people‘s inbox were been violated with emails that had no interest to many of them, it is also truth that when you were ultra busy writing your pa-

pers or preparing for an exam, it was also enjoyable to see the deep (and also the non-sense) debates taking place on

this platform.

In any case, the fact remains that you will not be able to wit-

ness and take part in these CEU discussions. Luckily, there is

now the new tool (part of CEU‘s policy response to offer al-ternatives to GW) called Discuss CEU (discusss.ceu.hu). It re-

mains to be seen to what extent this platform answers to the need of online places for debate and communication within

our dear University, but in any case it may be worth it to give it a shoot and see how much of a debater you are, so,

don‘t be shy and let the fun begin! TCW

Page 6

The GROUP WISE discussions you will never have

September 26, 2012, Year 3, Issue

Whatever the differ-

ences are between the CEU students‘ daily rou-

tines, there is one interesting tendency to observe. Some kind of magic, one might say, happens on Astoria-Kerepesi

87 route every weekend. Friday and Saturday.2 am, 3 am, 4 am, 5 am. What am I talking about? The glorious

night buses, of course. So you‘ve squeezed yourself into a crowd of youngsters, wonder for a second what the actual human capacity of an

ordinary bus is, then stop that steam of thoughts and enjoy the fact that – finally! – you‘re on the way home.

Surely, on the way, there is that brief moment of panic:

―Wait. Is the bus going to the right direction?‖ (a mental pause follows) You look through the bus window, as if that

could somehow help you determine where you are. Your heart rate, already affected by alcohol in the blood sys-tem, increases. The fact that the bus is packed with young

people seems like a good indicator that you‘re going to-wards Ors Vezer tere. On the other hand…these people

could be going anywhere! Then suddenly, you see Arena, a shopping mall the size of a micro state, and do a victory

dance in your head. ―Yessssss! Now, where‘s Arkad? Faster, almighty bus!‖

After half of the jolly youngsters leave the bus, it is finally physically possible to look around. And when you do, you

realize that there was a way to check whether you‘re on the right bus even before seeing Arena. It is seeing some

familiar faces. The girl from my elective class… The guy I talked with in the elevator… Ah yeah, and two course-

mates of mine! So you look around, politely – while also trying to look cool –nod at some people, even say ―hello‖

to others, and inside of you, the feeling of solidarity with other CEU students explodes: it‘s not just you who has po-tentially ruined half of your Saturday for having proper

fun of Friday. There are more of us!

On any of the night buses, there are always more of tired but happy CEU students going home. And, you know, if not

for any other reason, let‘s maintain solidarity among our-selves at least while we‘re on that damn bus. Because, you

know, we‘re all in this together. Literally.

Justina Poškevičiūtė

POLSCI Lithuania

Nocturnal Solidarity

the the CEU Weekly IN DEPTH

Though I am not a world traveler, I often receive some weird questions from different people around the world. I am not a patriot kind of guy, however, I would like to high-light the ten most common misconceptions with regard to India that I have listened throughout the years: 1. The Indian Curry: Not every dish we eat is curry based. More and more people are trying and enjoying Indian food, but curry is invariably linked with India. I have read a story in internet. An Indian restaurant manager always has interesting

anecdotes to share about his experiences with American customers, like this one:

―Can I have some curry samosa please‖ asked the white customer when the waiter came around to take order. ―How would you like it – spicy or mild‖ The waiter asked without reacting to the choi-ce of entree. ―Medium‖, he replied. The waiter came back with 2 Samosas and the chutney/sauce to dip in. I guess Indian sauce is also considered curry for some. 2. India is next to Iran or Iraq: Well Asia is too big and we need to cross 3 borders at least to touch Middle east. 3. Too many Gods: We only have one God, probably the same God that rest of world has. Its just different name in different part. 4. The Bindi on the forehead is not tattoo: The ‗dot‘ in on a women‘s forehead is not a permanent tattoo. I heard this on a radio show where the host was trying to find out more about the tattoo that Indian women have on their foreheads. It took me a while to realize that he was talking about Bindi; also known as tikka or kumkum or sindoor….depending upon where you come from in India. It is a ladies‘ make-up accesories with traditional ro-ots and customs.. 5. The cricket is not ‘cricket, the insect’: The game of Cricket is not popular in Maximum part if the world, so very few know about it. ―Is it just like baseball?‖ is the common inqui-ry. That is when I start to explain what a boundary is.; here goes the rest of the day! 6. Indian ‘too’ traditional: Just because there are lots of ladies dressed in Saari or Punjabi suits in the mall and super-markets, that does not mean we are very traditional. May be more traditional than Other culture, but India is moderni-zing at a very fast pace. Just give us one more decade… ! 7. We don’t speak ‘Indian’: We speak many languages, may be too many, but none Indian. And, English in Indian ac-cent does not count as ‗Indian‘ either. 8. Hot and rainy: ―Is it always hot there and does it rain all the time?‖ Seems like many of them have seen Monsoon Wedding movie. Weather in India is not much different from weather along the west coast or Midwest without snow. There are of course variations in weather from region to region. 9. Every Indian is vegetarian: Not very popular myth anymore. The non-veg dishes in Indian restaurants sell like hot cakes these days. I can't live without non-veg and I have tried more meat of different animals some may not think about. 10. Turban or chunary: These are not Muslim head-gears; these are just part of Indian tradi-tional dress. Subhabrata Chakraborty CEU Business School India Page 7

September 26, 2012, Year 3, Issue 21

Some misconceptions about India

he Weethe CEU Weekly

Page 8

ALUMNI PERSPECTIVE

September 26, 2012, Year 3, Issue 21

About the CEU Weekly This is a student-alumni initiative that seeks to provide CEU with a regularly issued newspaper. The CEU Weekly is a vehicle of ex-pression for the diversity of perspectives and viewpoints that integrate CEU‘s open society: free and respectful public debate is our aim. We offer a place in which current events and student reflections can be voiced. Plurality, respect and freedom of speech are our guiding principles.

Editor in Chief: Rodrigo Avila B. Managing Editor: Tamas Gyorgy

Editorial Council: Erik Kotlarik, Florin Zubascu, Yusuf Yuksedag and Natalia Peral ceuweekly.blogspot.com

It is no secret that we are living in tough times. The toughest times since the Great Depression, to be more exact. Researchers, practitioners, educators, and policy-makers around the world have joined forces in a collective attempt to revive the global economy and put us all back on a path towards sustainable growth and prosperity. However, this attempt has not always maintained an unbiased coherence with the problems at task; way too often the persons with great power in their hands contaminate decision making with an unnecessary presence of prejudice and principle. The balance between truth and ideology is a delicate issue, which has attracted an unusual amount of international attention in the past few years. The reason for that is the unfortunate tendency of some of the world‘s brightest minds to bend under vested interests while compromising their professional objectivity. For years, young and aspiring minds around the world have been learn-ing the fundamentals of economic thought from the seminal Principles of Economics by N. Gregory Mankiw. Mr. Mankiw‘s textbook is the industry benchmark for all edu-cators in the field, as well as a ref-erence guide for everyone in this broad profession. And CEU is not an exception; Mankiw‘s textbooks are the educational standards here, just like they are elsewhere across the Globe. Mankiw has also published some of the most cited research pa-pers on economic growth, macroeco-nomics, and public finance, and is now serving as a Department Direc-tor at Harvard - arguably the

world‘s most powerful economics faculty. The real-world impact of Mr. Mankiw‘s work, including his tenure as a Chairman of the Council of Eco-nomic Advisors, has always been profound and far-reaching. During Mr. Mankiw‘s decorated career, his personal preference towards conser-vatism and the political Right has been apparent both in his ties with the conservative political parties in the U.S., his frequent public appear-ances, and his eloquent writings in some of the most widely-read na-tional news outlets. Is it Okay for a researcher and edu-cator to take sides in a political de-bate? And if yes, what is the correct balance between policy engage-ment and advisory and a career in education? Mr. Mankiw, for exam-ple, acts as a prime economic advi-sor to the Presidential nominee Mitt Romney, representing the conserva-tive Republican Party. For obvious reasons, Mr. Mankiw has both very personal and also professional inter-ests in bolstering the influence of the conservative ideology. But where is that intricate line which separates permitted vested interest from bla-tant propaganda? The issue of concern is the continuous exposure of Mr. Mankiw to economic education: both as an instructor at Harvard and as an author of a best-selling textbook. Earlier this year we have already witnessed the famous ―Occupy Harvard‖ campaign in which tens if not hundreds of students walked out of the Harvard‘s Intro-duction to Economics course taught by Mr. Mankiw for apparent educa-tional biases towards conservative

lines of thought. And meticulous readers will always find here and there some subtle but yet noticeable pro-conservative lines in Mankiw‘s Principles of Economics. It‘s not clear whether his textbooks should be abandoned at CEU or elsewhere, but the argument itself that Gregory Mankiw‘s textbooks are losing their once impeccable reputation is no longer shocking news but rather a relevant and decent topic on the agenda.

There are, to be fair with Mr. Mankiw, a lot of other examples of established economists who have re-sorted even more explicitly to politi-cal commentary rather than pure economic research. We all love to read the always entertaining New York Times blog of the Nobel Laure-ate Paul Krugman. A household name in international trade, a splen-did writer, and simply a very inter-esting personality. But the unparal-leled one-sidedness of Mr. Krug-man‘s commentaries have turned him into a Gospel preacher of modern

liberalism.

One way or another, personal pref-erences and real-world pressures have forced some of the most im-pactful names in contemporary eco-nomics to take sides in a debate which should have remained a pur-suit of pure truth. The balance in the Force has never been so disturbed, and it will take more than one Jedi to bring the discourse back to its

roots of objective conscience.

Rustam Jamilov CEU Business School Alumnus,

Class of 2011

Disturbance in the Force