Inquiry for Awarding the Memory Diploma
INQUIRY FOR AWARDING THE MEMORY DIPLOMA
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCEDURE FOR GRANTING VILNIUS UNIVERSITY MEMORY DIPLOMAS
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. The Description of the Procedure for Granting Vilnius University Memory Diplomas (hereinafter the ‘Description’) determines the terms, procedures, and processing of personal data for granting Vilnius University (hereinafter the ‘University’) Memory Diplomas.
2. The Memory Diploma is a diploma awarded exclusively by the University and intended to give due recognition and honour to the members of the University’s academic community – students and employees – who were expelled during World War II and the post-war period. The Memory Diploma, as a sign of respect and a symbol of reintegration to the University’s academic community, is granted to persons expelled from the University as of 15 June 1940 following the actions of its administration and the totalitarian regimes. Following the University’s tradition, the Latin name of the Memory Diploma shall be Diploma memoriae causa.
CHAPTER II
TERMS AND PROCEDURES FOR GRANTING THE MEMORY DIPLOMA
3. When applying for the Memory Diploma, a completed questionnaire form provided in Annex 1 to the Description shall be submitted. The completed questionnaire form may be accompanied by documents providing information related to the nominee’s biography and expulsion from the University. The questionnaire form is available on the University website at www.vu.lt/en/. The completed questionnaire forms may be submitted to the University Museum by email at or by registered mail to Universiteto g. 3, 01513 Vilnius. In individual cases, where an applicant might find it difficult to complete and submit the questionnaire form, inquiries may be made by contacting the University Museum by phone (+370 5 268 7154) or email (). In case of phone or email inquiries, the responsible University Museum employee must be provided with as much information as possible on the nominee as well as contact details of their representative.
4. The nomination questionnaire may be submitted by:
4.1. a person wishing to be awarded the Memory Diploma;
4.2. other natural or legal persons.
5. Applicants may or may not have any family or other relationships with the Memory Diploma nominee.
6. The questionnaire forms as well as phone and email inquiries (hereinafter the ‘inquiries’) received shall be examined by and individual historical research regarding the award of the Memory Diploma (hereinafter ‘research’) shall be carried out by the Memory Diploma Award Commission (hereinafter the ‘Commission’) established by an order of the Rector of the University (hereinafter the ‘Rector’) in accordance with the procedure set out in this Description.
7. The Commission shall examine inquiries in the order of their submission, unless there are justified objective circumstances requiring a certain inquiry to be examined in the order of priority. The Commission shall not be obliged to examine inquiries within a specific period of time. If necessary, the Commission may contact an applicant, asking them to clarify the information provided or to submit additional or missing information.
8. The Commission may initiate the research, although priority must be given to the research based on inquiries received.
9. The Memory Diploma shall not be awarded if:
9.1. there is evidence of the person’s collaboration with the Soviet or Nazi occupation authorities (belonging to Communist and National Socialist parties, formal cooperation with repressive, political, and police structures, propagating the totalitarian ideology);
9.2. the person lost their job or studies at the University as of 17 March 1943, when the National Socialist authorities closed the University and no activities were carried out there during the period of closure, except for cases with additional circumstances, which shall be examined separately;
9.3. the person left the academic community voluntarily due to certain circumstances, but not as a result of the actions of the University administration influenced by the totalitarian occupation regimes;
9.4. the person was expelled from the University due to academic underachievement or non-political disciplinary penalties;
9.5. the research reveals reasonable evidence that certain facts of the person’s biography are incompatible with the idea of awarding the Memory Diploma;
9.6. there is a lack of documentation to substantiate the fact or the reasons for the person’s expulsion from the University community.
10. Normally, the Commission adopts decisions by consensus or, in the event of a difference of opinion, by a majority vote of Commission members present at the meeting. In case of an equal distribution of votes, the vote of the Chairperson of the Commission shall be decisive. The Commission’s decisions shall be recorded in the minutes of its meetings, which shall be signed via the document management system by the Chairperson of the Commission and the person acting as the secretary of the meeting.
11. The Commission shall submit the minutes of the meeting with its proposals via the document management system for approval to the Rector who shall take the final decision. The approved minutes of the meeting shall be registered via the document management system by the person acting as the Commission’s secretary.
12. After the Rector takes their decision on the award of the Memory Diploma, the Commission shall inform thereof the applicant and/or the nominee for the Memorial Diploma. Where the decision to award the Memory Diploma is taken after the research initiated by the Commission, the Commission shall inform thereof the nominee for the Memory Diploma or their legal representative, or, if the person is deceased, their next of kin. The Commission shall also notify the aforementioned persons of the date of the Memory Diploma award ceremony.
13. Memory Diplomas shall be awarded annually during University anniversary events, Finis anni academici, or other University events.
14. Memory Diplomas drawn up in accordance with the form provided in Annex 3 to the Description shall be registered via the document management system by the person acting as the Commission’s secretary.
15. During the ceremony, the Memory Diploma shall be awarded by the Rector or a Pro-Rector of the University acting as their deputy.
16. Members of the University Senate and Council, Pro-Rectors, the Chancellor, heads of the core units, members of the University community, and guests shall be invited to participate in the Memory Diploma award ceremony.
17. The ceremony shall be organised in accordance with the general principles and traditions of the University’s academic ceremonies. In individual cases (e.g. at the request of nominees for the Memory Diploma or their next of kin), the Memory Diploma may be awarded at any other time than the University events referred to in Item 13 of the Description, as well as at any other agreed location, or sent by registered mail to the nominees or their next of kin.
18. Memory Diplomas that can no longer be awarded (e.g. there are no persons, their next of kin, or organisations to whom the Memory Diploma could be awarded or issued) shall be stored at the University Museum in accordance with the procedure and terms specified in Item 20 of the Description. Memory Diplomas may also be displayed at the University Museum or in exhibitions of its partners.
19. After the research is carried out, the Commission may decide not to award the Memory Diploma to a particular person. Such a decision taken by the Commission shall not be made public, and the data collected during the research process shall be stored in accordance with the requirements laid down by law.
CHAPTER III
PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA
20. Personal data of persons expelled from the University as of 15 June 1940 as a result of the actions of the University administration and the totalitarian regimes, provided in the inquiries or stored in the University archive, shall be processed on the basis of public interest, for the purposes of conducting historical research and awarding the Memory Diploma, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation), the Republic of Lithuania Law on Legal Protection of Personal Data, and legal acts of the University regulating the processing of personal data, as well as by applying appropriate measures to protect the rights and freedoms of data subjects. The documents specified in the Description (and personal data contained therein) shall be stored in accordance with the procedure and terms established by legal acts of the University.
21. Information about the Memory Diploma, its recipient (or a representative who has received the Memory Diploma), their image, biography, audio or video recordings may be made publicly available on the Internet and social media only with the consent of the person to whom the Memory Diploma has been awarded (Annex 2). The consent to publish this information shall not be required where the person is deceased, the fact of death (homicide) is presumed, or their fate is unknown.
22. Data subjects shall exercise their rights in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and the Description of the Procedure for Processing of Personal Data at Vilnius University, approved by Order of the Rector of Vilnius University No. R-316 of 25 May 2018 “On the Approval of the Description of the Procedure for Processing of Personal Data at Vilnius University”.