NEW DELHI: Looking at the state in which the Jawaharlal Nehru University has turned into a hotbed of daily sloganeering and controversies since last year, academicians from across the globe have written to Vice-Chancellor of the varsity voicing concern over the ‘serious threat’ to the culture of debate, dissent and discussion. Academics from renowned varsities including Harvard, Cambridge, London School of Economics, Yale and New York University, have written to VC Jagadesh Kumar voicing concerns over recent events unfolding at the university.
"The academic culture and context that has formed the very basis of our cooperation with JNU is under serious threat, we request you to restore the institutional autonomy and provide assurance to the international community that JNU will maintain its commitment to an academic and intellectual, vision of a university that champions academic freedoms, teaching and research, keeping social and gender justice, and civil liberties intact," the letter said.
The letter further states the ‘deep concern and shock’ at the events taking place on the campus, requesting the authorities to take protective measure to save the future of the internationally renowned university.
JNU has been in the negative limelight for over a year after its students were arrested in a sedition case last February in connection with an event during which "anti-national" slogans were allegedly raised.
Since then, the students union and the teachers association have been at loggerheads with the administration over denial of permission to protest on campus, disappearance of a student after a brawl, deduction of salaries of teachers' raising voice and show-cause notices issued to them, and the latest confrontation on amendments in the admission policy leading to massive seat cuts in MPhil and PhD courses.
"We also feel that such an attack on public education in universities like JNU disables opportunities for the historically marginalized communities of India. It is essential that an enabling admission policy, like the one in place in JNU must be retained, other than abiding by the constitutionally mandated policies for affirmative action," the letter said.