To the esteemed Scientific Board of Masaryk University, and with due regard to the Dean’s Office, the Doctoral Board, and the Academic Senate, which we believe should also be informed of our current situation,  

We, the PhD students formerly under Professor Ivan Foletti’s supervision, would like to formally address grave concerns regarding our doctoral studies following Professor Foletti’s dismissal.

Since our supervisor was suspended on October 17th, 2025, we have lacked academic guidance and proper supervision from the part of the MU. So far, no suitable replacement or structured support has been provided, resulting in ongoing uncertainty that significantly hinders our research progress.

Since our work as doctoral candidates relies on ongoing mentorship and discussion, the absence of supervision has now extended beyond scientific issues and is leading to very tangible consequences. It has hindered our ability to make informed decisions, delayed research timelines, caused economic consequences, and restricted our capacity to reach key academic milestones or apply for scholarships. Additionally, some of us are approaching the end of our doctoral programs, which cannot proceed without a supervisor. For instance, colleagues Nicolas Samaretz, Annalisa Moraschi, and Ruben Campini cannot update their cotutelle agreement, nor can the latter two defend their dissertations until an official MU supervisor is appointed. This may prevent them from arranging their defenses on time, with potential delays of several months. Furthermore, Giada Lattanzio, who is not in a cotutelle, has been left unsupervised at the MU for over five months. 

We have been informed by Professor Kesner that the doctoral committee has formally voted twice in favor of reinstating Professor Foletti as our supervisor, provided that we agree on this. These decisions represent the committee’s academic judgment and its understanding of what is necessary to ensure continuity and quality in our research. Despite these votes, the Dean has opposed this course of action and has not yet proposed or implemented a viable alternative solution. We therefore wonder as to why this matter repeatedly returns to the Dean’s office, which has declined to accept the professional opinions of the Doctoral Board (expressed twice) as well as those of the students directly involved, and has neither responded to inquiries nor issued an apology concerning the inexcusable manner in which this matter has been handled insofar.

In a previous letter dated February 11, 2026 (see attachment), addressed to the institution's leadership, including the Dean, we formally petitioned for Professor Foletti's work as supervisor to be formally recognized (also in the IS system). In the same letter, we expressed our concerns regarding public slander directed at us as Prof. Foletti’s collaborators, portrayed either as manipulated and naive or as active participants in an alleged “sectarian environment.” Such claims are, at the very least, unsupported by sufficient evidence. In fact, the majority of the people who have been part of that environment over the past years were never invited to provide their testimony, necessary to gain a full picture of how the working environment evolved in the last decade. This fact alone contradicts the Ombudsperson’s claim of having “systematically mapped the overall relationships at the Department of Art History and their development over time” (https://artalk.info/news/ivan-foletti-konci-kvuli-nevhodnemu-chovani), casting further doubts about the completeness and fairness of the investigation (see also the addenda in the attached letter). We concluded our letter by asking for guidance, protection, and practical solutions, all of which were met with silence.

We therefore request that, subject to the agreement of the individual students, Professor Foletti be reinstated as our supervisor, in accordance with the decision of the Doctoral Committee and properly recorded in the university’s administrative system. We further urge the Scientific Board to review our situation with due urgency and fairness.

Since the decision you are about to make will directly affect us, and we do not know if the relevant authorities of MU have sent you our previous letter, we wanted to make sure that you are properly informed about our wishes, viewpoint, and how unfairly we have been treated for several months now. For this reason, we decided to include in the conversation also our co-supervisors and consultants, so that they can be formally informed about our current situation.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. We remain available for any further information or clarification and are open to constructive dialogue.

Ruben Campini, MA

Mgr. Klára Doležalová

signatář/ka si nepřál/a zveřejnit své jméno

Annalisa Moraschi, MA

Nicolas Samaretz, MA