A LaSalle University professor, Cornelia A. Tsakiridou, provides an excellent analysis of the roots of the Greek riots, with a focus on “anomic youth” and “headless government.” Writing at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, Tsakiridou describes the present and past role of universities in abetting such mayhem:
The rioters, who are so far winning the game, are taking advantage of a powerful tool that the Greek state has put at their disposal. They may rest, go online, and replenish their arsenal at public expense by taking shelter in university buildings protected by an asylum law that bans police from entering unless authorized by university officials. Student sit-ins and patrols that control entrance into facilities are a common sight during occupations, while the absence of a quorum in student meetings virtually ensures that extremists will monopolize action in the name of the majority.
Two years ago, … [Prime Minister Costas] Karamanlis tried to end the constitutional protection of university grounds as part of reform legislation intended to salvage the country’s deteriorating high education institutions … Ten thousand mostly leftwing students clashed with police, some breaking into the Athens Law School. Across the country, university buildings and department were occupied and police were attacked with gasoline bombs and furniture. The government lost; the extremists won.
The federation of university professors (POSDEP) argued at the time that the proposed reforms, among them provisions to establish private universities and restrict matriculation and examination times (currently students may take a decade to finish their degree), would devalue and commercialize state degrees. It was a bizarre warning given the poor showing of Greek universities in international rankings …
Karamanlis … underestimated entrenched political and economic interests in the academy and public education sector and the influence of Greece’s radical left on student organizations. Had the legislation become law in 2006, the events of this December might never have taken place, at least on this scale.