‘‘I used to ask questions to the old Rector, I haven’t even seen the new one’’: Students’ campus experiences in relation to university administration, the METU case

Abstract

Universities as established institutions that students interact with in the early years of their accepted citizenship play a central role in students’ experiences in democratic participation, political activism, and observing institutional responsiveness. University students’ interaction with the university administration, more specifically with the rector are essential in terms of students’ freedom of spaces at campus and their embrace of the university name and culture due to rector’s role in representing the university body and in establishing contact and communication between inside and outside the university. This study scrutinizes how students assess their campus experiences regarding their academic, social and political engagements at campus in relation to the university administration, and what differs for them under the administration of a non-elected ‘‘trustee rector’’ (kayyum rektör) compared to an elected one in the Turkish context. The Middle East Technical University (METU) example sets a typical case of the changing rector appointments in Türkiye, allowing to observe the impact of this change on students’ campus experiences in years between 2012 and 2020.