PodcastBoğaziçi University students hold Pride March on third week of protests against Erdoğan's rector
Boğaziçi University students held a Pride March on Jan. 21, the third week of protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's appointment of one of his party's members as rector to the most prestigious institution of higher education in the country.
The students carried a banner that read "NEVER to an appointed [rector]" to protest Melih Bulu, whose assignment was upsetting for the Boğaziçi University community not just because of his professional shortcomings, but also because he holds a record of sexist and discriminative rhetoric.
“If your mother can understand your business idea when you tell her, you shouldn't pursue that plan," is among Bulu's misogynistic statements, and he has often been accused of being homophobic and transphobic by students in protest.
Canceling a scholarship managed by Boğaziçi's LGBTI+ club (BULGBTI+) was among the first acts carried out by the previously appointed rector, Mehmet Özkan, the club noted in a press statement read at the march.
As Boğaziçi academics carried out their peaceful protest in front of the rectorial office simultaneously with the Pride march, the students vowed to continue their resistance against the undemocratically assigned leadership.