On November 1, 2025, the State University of Novi Pazar (DUNP) changed student enrollment procedures without prior notification, making it difficult for students involved in the nationwide protest “Stop, Serbia” movement to re-enroll at the university.
The nationwide “Stop, Serbia” anti-corruption movement began in late November 2024 after the collapse of the Novi Sad railway canopy. In anticipation of the one-year anniversary of the collapse, DUNP students joined their colleagues from universities across the country in a multi-day march to a commemorative rally scheduled to take place in Novi Sad on November 1, 2026. In the lead-up to the anniversary, DUNP apparently changed the student re-enrollment process, without prior notification, to occur for one day while students were engaged in the march. According to DUNP students, in previous years, students were given more time to enroll.
Multiple students subsequently reported receiving notice that DUNP had terminated their university status. In a letter to the European Union (EU) Ambassador to Serbia, Andreas von Beckerath, a group of professors from Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley called DUNP’s behavior “an apparent act of retaliation.”
Scholars at Risk is concerned about a university taking actions resulting in the loss of student status in apparent retaliation for students peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression – conduct which is expressly protected under international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Universities have a responsibility to refrain from wrongful disciplinary action taken against students for exercising their rights to academic freedom, freedom of expression, and freedom of association. The punishment of nonviolent student expression undermines academic freedom and democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://www.slobodna-bosna.ba/vijest/453776/osveta_vuchicevog_rezima_mladici_iz_novog_pazara_izgubili_status_studenata_na_univerzitetu.html
https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/grupa-profesora-sa-stanforda-i-berklija-uputila-pismo-ambasadoru-eu-u-srbiji-o-situaciji-na-dunp/
https://autonomija.info/optuzbe-za-odmazdu-nad-studentima-blokiranog-univerziteta-u-novom-pazaru/
https://nova.rs/vesti/drustvo/pesacili-iz-novog-pazara-na-protest-u-novi-sad-pa-izgubili-status-studenta-kaznjeni-smo-ovo-je-novi-pokusaj-zastrasivanja/
https://www.dunp.np.ac.rs/eng/upis/
https://www.dunp.np.ac.rs/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Akademski-kal-2024.pdf
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/31/thousands-march-in-serbia-to-mark-deadly-train-station-collapse-a-year-ago