Maria Topolčanská sees the criticism of her work and her own resignation as the result of pressure from patriarchal and conservative forces that expected a “traditional, majority male way of management”. This is a nonsensical claim, as evidenced by the fact that the school’s management consisted of three vice-rectors and one vice-chancellor, and the Academic Senate is headed by two women. Patriarchal pressures are the last thing that would be given space at AVU.

According to Maria Topolchanska, the vice-rectors “needed someone to protect them from further attacks” from this year’s petition by some artists and women artists criticizing the Academy. In fact, however, it was the vice-rectors and the vice-chancellor who publicly stood up in defence of the school in a published statement, while the then rector thought it right not to comment.

Above all, however, Maria Topolchanska suggests to readers that she “did nothing for which she could be dismissed” and the criticism of her management came as a bolt from the blue. This is not true. Criticism of her working practices has been long-standing, as evidenced, for example, by a letter addressed to her by the Vice-Chancellor’s Office as early as last year, in June 2023. Among the points of criticism specifically articulated in the letter were:

poorly prepared meetings, unwillingness to listen, chaotic management, failure to meet deadlines
a tendency to authoritarianise meetings with one’s own opinions and not give others the space to express themselves
inappropriate communication towards the Academic Senate
the Rector’s mistakes in project management, which resulted in several months of unnecessary work for the team and led to financial losses
the repeatedly rectified state of the accreditation procedure, which lacked a plan and ongoing control of the outputs
the decision to sign a major contract without a written financial, space and time plan and without a sustainability plan
unheeded requests for redress.

For these and other reasons, after two and a half years in office, Maria Topolčanská lost the trust of all the Vice-Rectors and unanimously the entire Academic Senate, which is telling enough in itself. Maria Topolčanská has certainly achieved success pedagogically and artistically as well. AVU remains an institution of excellence, but the managerial failures of the former rector were numerous, documented and unquestionable.

We hope that this is the last contribution to the debate on personnel issues related to the former rector and that from now on the AVU will be able to focus on its future again.

AVU Management

The former rector did not leave her position for no reason, explains AVU management