HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

508 MARTHA BOHACHEVSKY-CHOMIAKdents formed discussion groups within the Ukrainian Student AcademicSociety in Lviv. These groups were led by faculty from theformer Austrian schools, a number of whom were qualified universityinstructors out of favor with Polish officials. 24 By 1921 the discussiongroups were offering organized instruction and had developed anacademic administration. Since the government had not permitted theShevchenko Society to sponsor such courses, the Ukrainians hopedthat the Society of Petro Mohyla, which had as an official function theorganization of public courses in Ukrainian, would serve as its legalumbrella. But the Polish local administration refused to sanction thesecourses, as well. 25That July all Galician Ukrainian student organizations convened inLviv. They declared not only a retaliatory boycott of all Polish higherschools, but also of any Ukrainians who attended them. Fearing aresumption of bloodshed in the struggle for a university, the faculty ofthe Lviv Ukrainian courses met and formalized the establishment ofthe Ukrainian Clandestine University, electing a rector and senate.From 1921 to 1925 the Ukrainian Clandestine University in Lviv hadover a thousand students attending courses ranging from philosophy toa pre-medical program. Its activity constitutes a remarkable chapter inthe history of education. Credits earned at the university were recognizedby established institutions of higher learning in Europe. Ofnecessity, the university functioned conspiratorially: its administrativefiles were kept in two portable trunks, perched at times on theshoulders of a custodian who eluded the police many a time. Thededication of the students and faculty was so great that they managedto persevere effectively through four years of harassment and openpersecution. A number of Jewish students from Volhynia also attended,until they were picked up by the police and banished fromGalicia. In 1922 a group of conservative Moscophile students, too,enrolled. 2624Mudryi, Borot'ba, p. 86; also Mudryi, L'viv: A Symposium, passim, and LevIasinchuk, "Education in L'viv," in ibid., pp. 280-303. On the overall Galician-Ukrainian educational situation see Lev Iasinchuk, 50 lit ridnoi shkoly, 1881-1931(Lviv, 1931): this second edition is heavily censored; the first had been confiscatedby the Polish government.25Mudryi, Borot'ba, p. 90; rescript dated 11 April 1921.26The fullest discussion is Mudryi, Borot'ba. He objects to the appellation"clandestine," but it was used by the school's faculty, students, and supporters, aswell as critics. In the 1870s Polish women in the Russian Empire had established a"flying university" ; it functioned for a few semesters but encompassed fewer