Petition launched for University of Copenhagen lecturers in contract limbo

171 current and former students of Comparative Literature have put their names on a petition to keep two respected lecturers. This was just before students and staff left for the Christmas break.

The two lecturers have found themselves tangled up in red tape in a way that has real, human consequences: Due to University of Copenhagen (UCPH) rules on temporary contracts, neither Michael Høxbro Andersen nor Agus Djaja Soewarta will be likely to be able to continue teaching when their contracts expire this summer.

»We students believe that all teaching in Comparative Literature is, and should be, based on research. This is why we are calling for decent working conditions for our lecturers — so that the high standard of teaching expected at a university can be maintained,« it says in the petition.

We students want qualified and up-to-date teaching — and our lecturers want to provide it.

Sigurd Baagøe Jensen, student of Comparative Literature

No research time

Sigurd Baagøe Jensen elaborated on the students’ motivations for the petition over the phone:

»We want to keep our excellent lecturers. They do an incredible amount of work, with much of it unseen. They are both incredibly supportive of new students, make everyone feel welcome in the programme, and always help to ensure that the teaching runs smoothly, even when they themselves are under pressure,« he says.

»A lot of people have signed the petition — including many alumni — because Agus and Michael are really popular and well-liked lecturers,« says Sigurd Baagøe Jensen.

Both Michael Høxbro Andersen and Agus Djaja Soewarta have been employed at the department as so-called teaching associate professors — a position primarily focused on practical subjects. These positions come with no research time, and were in this way allowed to only teach courses that are not research-based.

In 2024, both were hired administratively as assistant professors with research time — a one-year position that can be extended once. These contracts are set to expire this summer. The department now wants to rehire them as teaching associate professors without research time.

Our lecturers need decent working conditions

It is specifically this type of employment — with no time allocated for research — that Sigurd Baagøe Jensen and Samuel Krogh are objecting to.

In the study board, where Sigurd Baagøe Jensen is a member and Samuel Krogh is a substitute, they have been tasked with assessing which courses in the programme »are not based on current research«.

But this makes no sense, they argue.

»We believe that all teaching at a university should be based on the latest research. We want our lecturers to have decent working conditions, which means they must have research time as part of their job — and we want the teaching that we get to be research-based,« says Sigurd Baagøe Jensen.

Teaching associate professors are generally used on programmes with practical subjects, like musicology where students get piano instruction.

But Comparative Literature has no practical subjects.

»All our courses are research-based,« says Samuel Krogh.

It means a great deal to me that the students have taken up this cause.

Associate professor Agus Djaja Soewarta

Sigurd Baagøe Jensen and Samuel Krogh launched the petition for two reasons: To safeguard the quality of their education and to fight for decent working conditions for their lecturers.

As representatives on the study board, they help plan teaching and degree programmes. They say Comparative Literature suffers from »structural understaffing« and that several lecturers are on sick leave due to the high-pressure working environment. They say the department is struggling to cover all teaching obligations.

»I think the idea behind reappointing Michael and Agus as teaching associate professors is to have them teach full-time — that way, you can load them up with teaching without giving them time for research. These are incredibly poor working conditions,« says Sigurd Baagøe Jensen.

»We students want qualified and up-to-date teaching — and our lecturers want to provide it. That means they must be given time within their work hours to conduct research and keep up to date with their discipline. Their academic integrity depends on it. Of course they could teach full-time, but this is about the conditions that the university is offering its staff,« says Sigurd Baagøe Jensen.

Touched by student support

Agus Djaja Soewarta says he was deeply moved when he learned about the students’ letter of protest.

»It means a great deal to me that the students have taken up this cause. As a lecturer, this is the best kind of recognition you can get.«

Given the department’s financial difficulties however, he is uncertain what practical effect it will have.

»Regardless of the outcome, it has meant an awful lot to me that they did this,« he says.

In a follow-up email, Samuel Krogh and Sigurd Baagøe Jensen write that they have raised the issue of the petition at a study board meeting and plan to make the department leadership aware of their criticism also.

They say that the invisible labour done by lecturers — the kind that keeps the teaching schedule running smoothly, and that gives students someone to turn to with their concerns — should be recognised and rewarded.

»As coordinator for first-year students, Agus has been a familiar face to everyone starting at university. He is the first to step up when students need to talk. Michael has stepped in several times during staff absences and even taken over parts of a course at short notice this semester. These are lecturers who have meant a lot to students over a long period of time,« says Samuel Krogh.

Or, as one student put it in a Facebook comment when the petition was shared in a Comparative Literature student group:

»Agus was the highlight of my time at university.«

The University Post will continue to follow this story.

This article was first written in Danish and published on 9 January. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.