Dear Colleagues:
We are reaching out to you to support Professor Taner Bilgiç of the Department of Industrial Engineering at Boğaziçi University, Turkiye.
Professor Bilgiç has been a faculty member at Boğaziçi University for 25 years. He held a significant number of administrative positions, including his service as department chair from 2019 to 2022, and his four-year role in the university's steering committee that started in 2020. He has voiced his concerns about the Turkish higher education system and expressed his opposition to government policies and to the university administration publicly. The following articles provide background and information on related developments at Boğaziçi University that have been ongoing since January 2021:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01548-2
https://thewire.in/world/turkey-bogazici-university-academic-freedom
Recently, Professor Bilgiç has been suspended and denied access to Boğaziçi University for three months by the current university administration. Due to this suspension, Professor Bilgiç has been unable to access his office and institutional email, to continue his research, attend thesis defenses, participate in his students' graduation ceremony and engage in any academic activities whatsoever. Unfortunately, this suspension is unjust, unfounded and unlawful.
Professor Bilgiç's departmental colleagues are appealing to academic colleagues to demonstrate the required support on this matter. They have started a call upon the university administration to immediately reconsider and retract the suspension of Professor Bilgiç and reinstate his access to the campus. If you would like to support this call, please do so by sending an email to join@standwithbilgic.com:
"I support the call upon the university administration to immediately reconsider and retract the suspension of Professor Bilgiç and reinstate his access to the campus."
Please include your TITLE, NAME, DEPARTMENT and INSTITUTION. If you are a Boğaziçi University graduate, please include graduation year and department.
For more information, please visit https://www.standwithbilgic.com/.
Thank you very much for your support!
Best wishes,
Atalay Atasu, Feryal Erhun, Burak Kazaz, Pelin Pekgun and Huseyin Topaloğlu (in alphabetical order) on behalf of many Turkish Scholars in INFORMS
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Burak Kazaz
The Steven R. Becker Professor of Supply Chain Management
Syracuse University
Syracuse NY
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