A deputy from the governing party in France, namely Lionnel Luca, whose father was of Romanian origin, refused to receive the "Doctor Honoris Causa" title awarded by the University in Nyssa, saying that the ex-Romanian communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu received this title, L'Expess publication informs. The former dictator received the distinction in 1975, when he was considered to have a rebel attitude towards the Soviet Union.

Lionnel Luca claims that bearing in mind that the ex-dictator held this distinction and it was not redrawn later, the Doctor Honoris Causa title has lost its meaning. He says he does not understand why the case was kept silent.

On the other hand, representatives of the University from Nyssa explained that on January 25 1990, the institution's Administration Council tried to "review this distinction", but the institution's policy made the redraw of the distinction awarded to Nicolae Ceausescu impossible.