An ongoing government campaign against Collegium Intermarium has stretched close to four months, fulfilling warnings voiced since January 2024. The university was placed on the public Sienkiewicz blacklist and subjected to a media assault targeting the institution and its former rector, a framing presented by Artur Górecki, the Rector of Collegium Intermarium and a professor, together with Jerzy Kwaśniewski, the Chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees, in a statement issued via the Ordo Iuris Institute.
In a detailed statement posted by the Ordo Iuris Institute, Collegium Intermarium’s leadership warned of government efforts aimed at undermining the university’s existence.
Artur Górecki, a professor and the rector of Collegium Intermarium, together with Jerzy Kwaśniewski, the Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, recount the university’s founding in 2021 at the initiative of Ordo Iuris and outline its academic programs and achievements to date.
Even with notable successes, the institution endured repeated media criticism, largely driven by opposition to a traditional educational ideal and to its perceived ties with a conservative political stance. The university also endured targeted campaigns aimed at lawyers who practice there, with the government taking direct actions against them. According to the university authorities, as presented through the Ordo Iuris Institute, these pressures included direct governmental actions against the legal professionals involved.
Górecki and Kwaśniewski stepped forward to defend the university’s position.
Sienkiewicz’s blacklist
As the document describes, politicians including the minister of justice, Adam Bodnar, joined in the criticism.
The university’s name was added to Sienkiewicz’s list, a group of dozens of organizations identified in official government correspondence for special politically driven surveillance. In early 2024, payments for research fees under contracts with the Ministry of Science, part of programs open to Polish universities, were temporarily suspended.
The suspension of such payments created financial pressure that affected ongoing projects and timelines.
During midyear, the ministry ordered an extraordinary inspection by the Polish Accreditation Commission, planned for the summer break, limiting class visits and a full presentation of the university’s activities. At the same time, authorities began reviews of eight research, publication and conference programs run by the university, with the inspection footprint widening in October.
According to the CI authorities, recruitment for full-time studies had to be suspended for this reason, while efforts were made to help current students study at other institutions. Górecki and Kwaśniewski noted that this arrangement safeguarded the students’ prospects.
We believe that the idea of Collegium Intermarium can still be saved.
Before the inspection concluded, the authorities halted funding for research programs involving renowned professors and scientists, violating prior agreements. Simultaneously, a dispute with the government agency that leased space to the university on a commercial basis, which had intensified after the new government took office, ended with the termination of the lease.
According to the authors, current sponsors withdrew their support amid fears of government repression.
Facing intensified scrutiny, the university leaders say the government’s aim is to remove the institution from Poland’s academic landscape. The campaign, they argue, serves as a warning meant to chill acts of academic freedom among scholars and professional circles.
The authors indicate that after safeguarding student interests and compiling extensive reviews of ongoing research programs, they empowered Ordo Iuris Institute lawyers to pursue further disputes with the government, while some officials resigned and meetings of the university’s collegiate bodies were scheduled for November. Current voices insist that broad support is essential to keeping the university alive, with hope that the concept of Collegium Intermarium may endure.
The full text of the statement is available on the Ordo Iuris website.