HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

THE UKRAINIAN UNIVERSITY IN GALICIA 507series of university courses, the government forbade them. 22 In 1920the Ukrainian Student Academic Society approached university officialsto find some way Ukrainians could attend. The officials insistedthat prospective students submit loyalty affidavits from local policeofficers, as well as attestation of service in some Polish civic organization— prerequisites which no nationally aware Ukrainian of the timewould meet.That same year the minister of education in the Witos government,Michał Rataj, known as a conciliator, brought up in conversations withthree prominent Ukrainians — Vasyl Shchurat, Kyrylo Studyns'kyi,and Stefan Fedak, the first two scholars and the third a lawyer — thepossibility of establishing a Ukrainian university in Stanislaviv. 23TheUkrainians objected to the site because it lacked libraries, archives,and scientific equipment. A sufficient number of Poles also objected tothe establishment of a Ukrainian university, once the governmentbrought the issue before the education commission in the Diet, for thematter to be tabled.Having lost their bid for independence — although not ready toadmit so de jure — Galician Ukrainians insisted on return to the legalpractices of the Austrian Monarchy, specifically, the recognition of theofficial use of Ukrainian. A delegation of former and potential Ukrainianstudents met with the rector of Lviv University in April 1921, andargued for the reestablishment of bilingualism at the university.Immediate and full access to higher education for Ukrainians was apressing need. Following the collapse of the Russian and Austrianempires, the Ukrainians were becoming painfully aware that theirnation lacked specialists and technicians in all areas — from foreignspeakingdiplomats to railroad engineers. The lack of qualified personnelwas considered a major reason for the failure of Ukrainians tomaintain an independent state.In the fall of 1920, while waiting for a way to enter Poland'suniversities without compromising national dignity, Ukrainian stu-22The reason for the ban was the allegedly inadequate academic credentials ofsome proposed teachers. The Ukrainians countered that the Polish teachers wereless qualified than the Ukrainians. They also reminded the Poles that a yearearlier the Ukrainian National Republic in Kiev had not banned similar coursesorganized by the Poles.23Stanyslaviv had a larger proportion of Ukrainians than did Lviv, and it wasthe home base of the Ukrainian socialist and women's movements. The citybecame a haven for the beleaguered government of the Western UkrainianRepublic after it had been ejected from Lviv by the Poles: see Mudryi, Borot'ba,p. 84.