An empty lecture hall is no victory for anyone

The university union decided Tuesday evening that, starting today, classes at public universities will be boycotted indefinitely. Lecturers will be in the square every day, alongside the students, until further notice. It is the most serious decision the academic staff has taken since the protests began on Oct. 13.

The union is right on one essential point: lecturers cannot pretend everything is normal while their students are being detained, tried and injured in the streets. Its demand for an independent investigation into the use of force since Oct. 13 is reasonable and should be taken seriously.

But an indefinite boycott also carries a cost that neither the government nor the union pays. It is paid by first-year students who have only just stepped into a lecture hall, by those due to graduate in the spring, and by families paying rent in Tirana for a semester that is not taking place. A protest for quality education cannot be measured by the number of days without classes.

That is why the boycott needs two things it lacks today: a clear date for review and a list of demands that can be met. The prime minister's resignation is a political demand; an independent investigation, lawful treatment of those detained and conditions at the universities are demands that could be negotiated as early as tomorrow.

The government, for its part, cannot resolve this crisis by putting the chairs back in front of the Prime Minister's Office. If dialogue means anything, it must start with what both the lecturers and the Ombudsman are asking for: an investigation not controlled by the party under investigation. Every day without that step keeps the lecture hall empty one more day.