Tallinn Tech staff turn to court over Aaviksoo's election as rector

Photo: Edmond Mäll / TTÜ

Professors and employees of several faculties of the Tallinn University of Technology (TTU) on Monday submitted an application to the Harju County Court requesting the court to declare void the May 22 decision of the board of governors to elect Jaak Aaviksoo the next rector of the university.

According to Tanel Kerikmae, Archil Chochia, Sandra Sarav and Raivo Vilu who submitted the action Aaviksoo was elected rector in the fifth voting round but there should not have been a fifth round since the election failed already with the fourth round. Therefore they are asking the court to declare the decision according to which Aaviksoo was elected rector null and void.

According to Kerikmae its is regrettable how the board of governors is still unable to make decisions although the university and the society need solutions. He called attention to the fact that several members of the board of governors have also publicly criticized the inactivity of the body.

According to Kerikmae the people who filed the action wish to stop the unlawfully elected rector-elect to be appointed as rector, but they would also allow the board of governors to declare the decision void themselves.

The 11-member board of governors voted on the next rector of Tallinn Tech in a secret ballot on May 22. Aaviksoo was selected from a field of four which included besides him members of the Academy of Sciences Jakob Kubarsepp and Mart Ustav and professor Andrus Salupere. He needed eight votes to be elected, but four members of the board later on claimed they had voted against him and demanded a repeat vote.

The board of governors is the highest decision-making body of Tallinn Tech. It consists of five representatives of the university, one representative of the Academy of Sciences and five government-appointed members with a business background.