The importance of Ivan Ohienko in solving the housing problems of managers and participants of the educational process in Kamianets-Podilskyi State Ukrainian University (1918-1920)

Based on archival and published sources, as well as the works of modern domestic historians, the article studies the talented organizational activity of Ivan Ohienko, the chairman of Kamianets-Podilskyi Municipal University Commission, acting rector and rector of Kamianets-Podilskyi State Ukrainian University, the Minister of Education and the chief authorized officer of the Government of the Ukrainian People's Republic, in the matter of solving such a local social problem as providing permanent official and rented housing for the management staff and scientific and pedagogical workers of the newly founded higher education institution, along with opening the dormitory (bursa) for poor foreign students in very complicated conditions of the peripheral city. The problem is considered within two unequal chronological segments. The first is related to the accelerated and quite effective implementation of a complex of state, self-governing and public preparatory measures regarding the legal foundation of the university, the creation of its proper material and technical base and, finally, the official opening (July-October 1918). The second segment covers the long-term functioning and internal development of the university (1918-1920) under unstable Ukrainian sovereignty, when Ivan Ohienko, as rector, moving up the career ladder in the field of higher state administration and receiving the opportunity to influence from the height of his authoritative positions, resolved a number of administrative, financial, material and other issues related to the interests of the workers and students. This approach provided comprehensive coverage of the raised issue, ensured its scientific novelty, as well as an understanding of the importance of Ohiienko in the partial solution of a complex social problem generated by the modest resources of a small multinational city. Attention is drawn to the situation related to the university's aspiration to obtain corporate apartments from the state, which generated a conflict of interests with the previous residents. Ivan Ohienko found legal levers to satisfy the needs of university employees, but the other side did not perceive them as objective and fair, and therefore the conflict took on a protracted nature, although it did not lead to any excesses.