The VSE student dormitories are now renamed

Palachova, Eislerova and Thalerova are the new names of the dormitories that house VSE students in Jarov. The new names were officially announced in the dormitory premises on March 27, 2019. By choosing these names, VSE expresses its appreciation towards three important personalities connected with VSE. A memorial of Jan Palach was installed in the dormitory area. 

Palachova dormitory is the new name of the former Jarov I (blocks A, B, C, D). Jan Palach, a symbol of the passive resistance of society against the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, used to live in this dormitory while he was a VSE student in 1966–1968. 

Eislerova dormitory is currently home to the majority of Exchange students at VSE. The former Jarov III F dormitory was named after an economist with a troubled fate. Pavel Eisler fought in the Czechoslovak military unit in Great Britain during the Second World War and became a victim of the political processes in the 1950s. He began working at VSE afterwards, where he became one of the leading representatives of the reformation movement of the 1960s. Pavel Eisler died tragically in 1966, however, his family remained in contact with VSE, which received his scientific heritage.  

Thalerova dormitory is the current name of the former Jarov III G. Richard Thaler, the 2017 Nobel Prize winner in Economics, is a professor of the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business and received an honorary doctorate from VSE in 2015. 

“The inspiration for renaming our dormitories were Jan Palach’s classmates who came up with the idea of placing a memorial on the dormitory where Jan Palach had once lived. I think students will welcome the change. It is much better to live in a dorm, which bears the name of a prominent person than in a dormitory with an impersonal number. We have deliberately chosen people who are associated with VSE and who represent various historical periods,” said Prof. Hana Machková, the Rector of VSE, at the Christening Ceremony. 

The event was attended by numerous VSE representatives, as well as students, staff and the public. The invitation had also been accepted by Jan Palach classmates and sons of Pavel Eisler.