Whose SKC is it?

Students have organized themselves and violently entered to its own cultural center. However, SKC was a student, until now, in name only.

It turns out that SKC, for more than 15 years, has been led by Slavoljub Veselinović, the man who also led the institution during the time of Slobodan Milošević's rule.

For the same amount of time, Veselinović has the status of the famous vidya - acting in charge, although by law he can be in this state for a maximum of one year. In the meantime, well-informed sources tell Vreme, SKC has become a bastion of party employment, in which half of the 60 employees only receive a salary and do not even show up for work.

A big problem of SKC is financing. Everything that the institution receives from renting business premises for the bookstore, cafe and playroom - goes to the Ministry of Education, not the center.

SKC – Socialist Cultural Center

From the famous protests of 1968 until the first half of the nineties, the Student Cultural Center was managed by the University of Belgrade. But, in 1992, it was taken over by the Government of Serbia, so that it went under the management of the Ministry of Education.

Slavoljub Veselinović returned to the chair shortly after the SPS members returned to power in 2008, when they made a "historic reconciliation" with the Democratic Party headed by Boris Tadić and formed the Government.

He doesn't make statements or expose himself, and here and there he appears on a list, such as the personalities who supported Salon Comic.

"Vreme" is about Veselinović wrote in 2003, because it turned out that back in 1996, during his first mandate in the SKC, he was on another list - people who bypassed the legal provisions on participation in the public tender for radio frequencies. He is the man who signed the contract on behalf of radio SKC.

According to well-informed "Vremena" sources, the institution also has a Management Board, which according to the statute should include student representatives and university professors, but it is unclear whether the board still has an active mandate.

4000 square meters, 60 employees and one pyramid

The director himself, the editorial sources add, is not the biggest problem because he only does what the party tells him. The center is organized in a pyramidal leadership structure, where everyone asks one man, and he further asks his own, thus serving to secure funding for many other programs on the side.

SKC has 4000 square meters at its disposal. Within its premises, there is also a bookstore and a coffee shop published by Laguna, as well as the Dice Arena, a place where many people like to come to play board games. There is also the Arte gallery, a space that belongs to SKC, and is physically located between the center and the Yugoslav Drama Theater.

Although all these tenants pay for office space, the entire income does not go to the SKC budget, but directly to the accounts of the Department for Pupil and Student Standards and Investments, which is under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. The Ministry disposes of the money as it pleases.

The once iconic place of the Yugoslav underground music scene practically does not exist for decades, the huge space is empty, and the beautiful garden in the very center of the city, where legendary concerts were held, now serves as a parking lot.

The Ministry of Education, as well as the Sector itself, did not respond to the question of the Vremen editorial board about where the money goes from the lease of all business premises within the SKC. The line minister Slavica Đukić Dejanović did not respond to calls to comment on the events at the center either.