Experiencing Multicultural Organization: The Case of Babe#st‐Bolyai University

Abstract

How does a democratic country in eastern Europe undergoing transition to a market economy and pluralist democracy deal with minority claims for cultural and linguistic autonomy? The author, formerly the Rector of the Babes‐Bolyai University of Cluj‐Napoca, and currently the Minister of Education of Romania, describes the way his university dealt with such claims. The solution, resulting from a university‐wide consultation, led to the creation of Romanian, Hungarian, and German sections throughout the university, not only on its main campus, but on several branch campuses, in such a way that the university as a whole did not break up into several ethnically separate institutions but remained one institution. The result, the author argues, is illustrative of a creative switch from ethnic nationalism to civic nationalism and from historical patriotism to constitutional patriotism.