Rectors to stay away from Independence Day celebrations

The Czech Rectors Conference has said its members will not attend the ceremony at Prague Castle marking Czechoslovakia Independence Day on October 28th. The academic boycott of the celebrations is a show of protest over the president’s decision not to invite two university rectors to Prague Castle over past disagreements. For the third year now the rectors of Brno’s Masaryk University and the South Bohemian University in České Budějovice have not been included on the guest list as a result of personal disputes with the head of state. The Rectors Conference says this is undignified and has accused Mr. Zeman of appropriating the public holiday.