Weber State University professors teaching at the only private university in the Soviet Union likely didn't see mass celebrations when the United States granted diplomatic relations to the Baltic States on Labor Day.
"If I could call Lithuania right now, I could tell you what the response would be. They are probably not partying in the streets, just because they have considered themselves free for a long time," said Weber State graduate Gary Toyn. "It's more like, `What took the world so long?' We've been independent. It's just a formality at this point."Toyn, who headed the first local delegation to Lithuania last December, met with Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis and paved the way for the current WSU academic exchange to Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania.
The WSU delegation - including two faculty members, a staff assistant and six students - were in Lithuania Monday when President Bush formally recognized the independence of the three Baltic republics that were annexed by the Soviet Union in a 1940 agreement with Adolf Hitler.
Although he has been unable to reach his Utah colleagues by phone, Toyn believes the announcement was anti-climactic to Lithuanians who have rebelled against communist control for years.Their university is an example of one victory.
Vytautas Magnus University, founded in the '30s, was closed in 1950 by the Soviets, opposed to democratic principles being taught there.
But, according to Toyn, it was reopened by the Lithuanians in 1989.
"They totally abolished all the Soviet teaching techniques, which did not make the Soviets very happy," Toyn said. "It, in fact, was really the focal point of the conflict between Lithuania and the Kremlin."
Subjects such as sociology, economics, business - outlawed by the Soviets - were being taught, despite attempts by the Communist Party to infiltrate the school.
"That's what made this university so unique. Plus the fact that it was a private university - the only private university in the Soviet Union," Toyn said. "It was setting a pattern on how to democratize education."
It has continued to do it with assistance from WSU, which has lent financial assistance to establish a host of programs.
With support from IOMEGA, a Roy-based computer company - whose vice president is Lithuanian - WSU has quadrupled the computers at Vytautas Magnus University. The Utah university helped the Lithuania university establish the first and only student-run newspaper in the Soviet Union, plus the only student-run government.
WSU Professors Daniel Gallego and Deon Greer are the first non-Lithuanians to instruct there.
Toyn said Greer will teach comparative government. Gallego, Toyn's father-in-law, will give instruction in sociology, research methods and alcoholism prevention - an "overwhelming" problem in Lithuania.
"Little old Weber State has really made an impact on democracy there," said Toyn, who now works for a non-profit organization that ships textbooks to Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and other developing countries.
Speaking for fellow WSU students, Toyn said, "We really didn't want to change the world. We just wanted to change that little corner of it."
But Toyn said freedom won't be a reality in Lithuania until the Red Army and KGB are gone, and Lithuanians have regained control of their borders and monetary system.
"I think that a real party, a real celebration of independence, would occur March 21. That's when they re-established their independence in 1989," Toyn said. "That will continue to be their liberation day."