President Andrzej Duda only erstwhile during his presidency refused to give the title of professor. The decision concerns Dr. Michał Bilewicz, a social scientist from the University of Warsaw and the manager of the Center for investigation on Prejudice.
Although the candidacy was positively assessed by the Central Committee on Degrees and Titles, the president decided not to sign the nomination.
In a conversation on Channel Zero, Andrzej Duda clearly explained the reasons for his decision:
"This is you, who has been consciously performing from the very beginning, in my opinion doubtfully technological activity, simply anti-Polish activity. He slanders Poland and Poles in my individual opinion. That is my assessment," the president said.
Andrzej Duda exercised the prerogative of refusing to give the title of prof. despite gathering all formal requirements. The procedure has been going on since 2018. Over the years, deficiency of decision has caused discontent in the technological community. In 2019, the President's Office reported that the existing regulations do not specify the time limit within which the head of state must issue a resolution on the matter.
In 2024, the Chief Administrative Court ruled that the president could not hold the decision without a time limit and obliged him to issue it. In May this year, Andrzej Duda announced publically that his decision was negative – motivated, as he stressed, not by political reasons, but by a substantive assessment of the candidate's technological activities.
President Duda argued his decision that Michał Bilewicz is active in an anti-Polish activity and is based on the dubious quality of technological methodology. The following are any examples that may form the basis for this assessment.
In 2019, Bilewicz wrote on social media:
"I have nothing against Poles. But it is an ideology hidden under the word “Poles”. For a long time there is no nation under this word, but a destructive ideology.”
Such statements can be read as a blow to the very concept of Polishness, which is hard to reconcile with the ethos of a student representing a state technological institution.
In May of that year, in the context of the presidential election, Bilewicz suggested that the choice between the candidates was the choice "on which side of the barn in Jedwabne you stand". utilizing the tragedy of planet War II as a political metaphor met with criticism as inappropriate, provocative and harmful to Polish society.
Bilewicz accused the authorities of "imposing the memory of Jews" during the celebration of the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, suggesting that the Polish State is trying to "make Jews of Poles of the dead". specified wording undermines the common historical heritage and can be perceived as dividing alternatively than combining the memory of victims and societies.
During the lecture at the POLIN Bilewicz Museum, he presented a drawing of a Pole measuring from a weapon to a Jew, signed “Polish Holocaust”. Although the court did not consider this to be a violation of the law, the usage of specified an image in the technological context can be considered provocative and harmful to the image – especially erstwhile Poland is fighting for the protection of a good name on the global stage.
As a scientist publishing in English and frequently quoted in abroad media, Bilewicz influences how Poland is seen in the world. The public emphasis of “Xenophobia of Poles” or “systemic anti-Semitism” in investigation without a clear historical and social context can be considered harmful and unilateral.
President Duda, refusing to give the title of professor, made a precedent decision, but not without grounds. These examples indicate that the activities of Michał Bilewicz, although positively assessed by the technological commissions, rise serious doubts about its nature and social impact. In a situation where the state confers the highest academic title, it is not amazing that the head of state has taken into account not only the publication work but besides the general context of the public activity of the candidate.
