John Chryssoulakis throws support behind Macquarie University’s Modern Greek Studies Program

Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Secretary General for Greeks Abroad & Public Diplomacy John Chrysoulakis. Photo: AMNA

he Secretary General for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy, John Chryssoulakis, has come out strongly supporting the continuation of the Μodern Greek studies program at Macquarie University.

Since the announcement two weeks ago about the potential discontinuation of Modern Greek at Macquarie University, numerous organisations and individuals of the Greek-Australian community have come out to oppose it.

Mr Chryssoulakis has added to this noble cause in a letter to the Macquarie University authorities, joining these efforts to safeguard Modern Greek studies and stressing the importance of maintaining the Greek language for Hellenism in Australia.

The issue pertains to a far more holistic approach to the discipline of Languages and Cultures at Macquarie University, with them suggesting a move away from this to establish a Discipline of Global Studies.

As such, numerous languages are being discussed for discontinuation in addition to Modern Greek, including Croatian, German, Italian and Russian.

This is notably the second time Modern Greek has been threatened immensely at Macquarie, having been reduced from a major to a minor in 2021 before being overturned.

The President of the Macquarie Greek Studies Foundation told Neos Kosmos two weeks ago that they would explore all options to reverse this outcome, similar to how they managed to overturn the demotion down from a major to a minor.

In the meantime, the students from the university’s Greek Association (MUGA) have set up an online petition to save Modern Greek which has so far gathered over 1,300 signatures.

The official decision is yet to be made but there is no denying that the fate of the university’s Modern Greek Studies Program is on a knife-edge.

Anyone who wishes to support the petition can do so by signing via chng.it/xFrjHM4fpz