The first University Areopagus – an initiative of the academic community of four Polish universities: the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (KUL), the University of Warsaw (UW), the Jagiellonian University (UJ) in Krakow and the University of Adam Mickiewicz (AMU) in Poznań has been completed. The main topic of the series of debates was the world in the time of the coronavirus pandemic.

The main idea of the University Areopagus is to conduct a public debate on the current challenges in the university space with the participation of all interested parties. The topics of individual meetings included: “Value System in the COVID Era”, “Ethical Limits in Medicine”, “Relationships in the COVID Era”, “Economy, Management and Finance in the COVID Era”.

The last debate at the University Areopagus took place on January 10 in the Senate Hall of the University of Warsaw.

Prof. Alojzy Z. Nowak, rector of the University of Warsaw admitted that organizing those meetings was targeted to check how to talk to each other and how to impact on cooperation between individual universities and on society. “The results of the debates exceeded my expectations due to the quality of academic part presented by experts, mutual respect of participants, and the need for this type of analysis. The most important thing, however, is that we can still talk to each other, despite different opinions and views”. Prof. Alojzy Z. Nowak, announced the continuation of the University Areopagus.

Fr. Prof. Mirosław Kalinowski, the rector of the Catholic University of Lublin, said that one of the definitions of happiness is about not taking yesterday’s problems into the next day. While it has its justification individually, in the broader social and university dimension, it is only a starting point. According to him, such meetings showed that there is a need for high-level conversation and dialogue.

Adrian Andrzejewski