IAHPE Press Release – 16.06.2026
More than 200 academics and researchers from universities across 26 countries in Europe, the Americas, and Australia stand in solidarity with the president and board members of the Faculty Union at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh).
In their statement, the academics and researchers condemn the legal harassment their colleagues are facing in Greece for participating in a recent Student Union demonstration against the new regulatory framework governing the AUTh dormitories. According to their statement, this is the first case in Greece involving academics prosecuted under the new disciplinary legal framework passed by the Greek government last summer.
The academics and researchers also express their deep concern over the anti-democratic trends noted in universities across Europe. Much like what is happening in Greece, many academics across Europe are being prosecuted or losing their jobs for expressing opposition to the genocide in Gaza, criticizing the commercialization of higher education, or refusing to participate in military research projects within their institutions.
Among the signatories of the solidarity statement are David Himmelstein, Steffie Woolhandler, Mark Eisenberg, and Gordon Schiff, professors at Harvard Medical School; Howard Waitzkin, distinguished professor at the University of New Mexico in the USA; Yannis Hamilakis, professor at Brown University, USA; Fran Baum, professor of public health at Adelaide University in Australia; Ronald Labonte, emeritus professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Ottawa in Canada; Professor Asa Cristina Laurell, former Minister of Health of Mexico City; Professor Nila Heredia, former Minister of Health in Bolivia; Colin Leys, emeritus professor and founding member of the Center for Health and the Public Interest in the United Kingdom; Professor Feride Aksu Tanik from Turkey, honorary president of the International Association of Health Policy in Europe; Donatella della Porta, professor at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence; Roberto de Vogli, associate professor at the University of Padova; and Manolis Kogevinas, professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health in Spain.
The 200 academics and researchers conclude their statement by demanding the immediate cessation of all legal action against their colleagues at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
It is worth noting that this international response follows widespread domestic opposition within the Greek academic movement. More than 20 faculty unions from 15 universities across the country, alongside nearly all higher education workers’ federations, have expressed their condemnation of the prosecution of their colleagues at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
The full list of the 200 signatories, as well as additional signatures as they arrive, is available online
International Association of Health Policy 