Drugs, prostitution and crime prevalent at major Greek Uni, students say

471 post and undergraduate students send letter of complaint to university administration

Greek undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki have expressed their grave concern to the institution’s administration over the prevalent criminality on the university’s campus. In a letter signed by 471 students addressed to the Rector Periklis Mitkas and Dean of the Polytechnic School Kosnatinos-Vasileios Katsampalos, the outline they describe an environment of widespread of drug dealing, prostitution and theft. “The simplest of incidents ranging from the constant presence of a large number of drug users in areas of the institution e.g the school’s kiosk to the more serious ones, namely, the illicit trafficking of narcotic substances in areas of the university, and the even more critical like the death of of people in the university, all these create a sense of permanent insecurity and fear form the majority of the academic community through the whole day”, an excerpt reads from their letter, published by newspaper Kathimerini. The Rector of the university said a meeting between the administration and competent bodies had taken place to address the matter to boost security measures. Meanwhile, Minister for Education Konsatinos Gavroglou attempted to downplay the whole issue, claiming the problem is the lack of a courageous student movement to deal with such issues. “Never has a solution be reached via policing methods”, he said in an interview to Skai TV. The students on their part stressed they refuse to attend classes in an area where drug trafficking is flourishing.