Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
SPIRIT AND MOOD - A Decade-long Struggle for the Academy of Law
168 Moderate joy - the University of Debrecen and its reception The decree establishing the Hungarian Royal University in Debrecen was issued one hundred years ago, in 1912. The new university, which was founded on the intellectual base of the renown local Reformed Church College, was opened in 1914 and was viewed with mixed emotions in Patak. On the one hand, it was deemed as a great success throughout the Hungarian Reformed Church community that the “Calvinist Rome” was promoted to be a university-town. During the Dualist period, when the state was often known for siding with and supporting Catholics and favoring Catholic institutions, this development was definitely considered positive. In addition, of course, it was also felt on the banks of the Bodrog River that a university in close proximity would help to promote intellectual and scientific reflection in rural areas. On the other hand, the proximity of Debrecen reinforced the dubious fears of the College in Patak and its future. It is for this latter reason that the news of the university’s founding generated more ink on the distancing and polemic attitude of the College than on joyful, welcoming salutations. The appearance of a third Hungarian university naturally affected Sárospatak most profoundly at the Academy of Law end of things. For this reason, the reform plans were first criticized from the perspective of the law school. Quantitative development - it was argued - is only a short-term solution in managing the tension in Pest where four thousand law students are crowded into woefully inadequate facilities. The lack of reforms and the delay in decentralization predestined the system to generate further problems while expeditiously destroying the academies in Nagyvárad and Sárospatak. Surely, this was not the first time that this correlation had been identified. When seeking issues to raise which might speak against having a university in Debrecen, great emphasis was put on the advantages and disadvantages of smaller towns versus larger towns. The professors from the College in Patak latched onto every opportunity to etch the advantages of a small town. They constantly mentioned, for example, that the planned location for the new universities in Debrecen and Pozsony were miles away from the city centre so most likely the students would not even bother to attend the classes and would spend their time at the cafes in town. This would be unthinkable in Patak, a much smaller town where personal relationships determine everything and where the students spend their time studying at the school. The difficult years of the war helped again to emphasize the advantages of a smaller town. When most students were half-starved in the universities in the big cities and the lack of apartments and lodging caused daily struggles for many, in the smaller towns, wood for heating and food to eat could be found locally and relatively quickly. In addition, the disadvantages of big cities in terms of lack of apartments and goods would only increase during the initial years of post-war peace. The slums were already existent and nobody could realistically expect that the years of recovery would be easy and smooth - was often what was said in Sárospatak. The fatally delayed reforms and the ever-increasing obvious decrease in the number of students enrolling at the Academy of Law in 1912 forced the leaders of Patak to introduce the so-called university system. That is, following the examples of Eperjes, Kassa, Kecskemét and Máramarossziget, the system of SECONDARY SCHOOL AND COLLEGE decided decentralization of legal education. In the University of Pest, two thirds of the students could not fit into the lecture halls, and the employment of apprentices in regular offices was nothing but the mockery of a system of education which is based on class attendance. In contrast, in Sárospatak, because of a lack of fancy cafes and such regular offices, all students attend classes. Finkey stressed that the phenomenon can only be remedied by an overall reform and that, for example, separating the four thousand university students into two camps (ie. by establishing a new university) will not solve the problem.
