HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

THE UKRAINIAN UNIVERSITY IN GALICIA 511government for approval of its by-laws, the Warsaw government,again in the throes of a major political crisis, failed to act, leaving theCuratoria in legal limbo. 30The official Allied sanction of Polish control of Galicia, including aguarantee of the rights of the nationalities living there, came on14 March 1923. Given this recognition of de facto Polish control, eventhe staunchest Ukrainian patriots had to acknowledge the Polishpresence. Ukrainian political parties began to take active part in thepolitical life of the country, and more Ukrainians seemed willing tobargain on the issue of a Ukrainian university.But national antagonism between the Poles and the Ukrainianscontinued as the political and economic situation worsened. LocalPoles were vocal in their anti-Ukrainianism: limited government fundsmust not be spent, they argued, on those who had actively opposedPolish rule. Runaway inflation made this argument especially effective.The new Polish republic struggled to establish a working democracy.Its unstable parliamentary alliances embodied conflicting views on thenew republic's direction, international situation, and priorities. Thegovernment changed hands frequently and was often incapable ofcontrolling the populace, which was being adroitly manipulated byparties out of power. Paramilitary organizations and workers' unrestundercut attempts to stabilize the situation. The assassination ofPresident Gabriel Narutowicz on 16 December 1922, by a man connectedwith the national-democratic camp, was only one dramaticinstance of the violence that plagued the country.Under these circumstances, no stable policy vis-à-vis the Ukrainianscould develop. Nor did the Ukrainians in Poland unite and speakwith one voice. The issue of the Ukrainian university was used by bothPolish and Ukrainian political parties for their own purposes, whichmade all actions regarding the issue suspect. Some Poles, particularlyacademics, took the commitment to establish a Ukrainian universityseriously. Others postponed it through various ploys. Still anothersizeable group, especially Poles living in Eastern Galicia, regardedeven discussions of a Ukrainian school of higher education as tantamountto treason against newly resurrected Poland.30See Mudryi, Ukrains'kyi universytet, pp. 22-25, and Borot'ba, p. 123.Mudryi's Borot'ba was published quickly in 1923, by the Central Bureau of Pressand Propaganda of the Professional Organization of Ukrainian Students, becauseof the importance of the university issue.