NEW DELHI: The economics department of Ashoka University Wednesday wrote an open letter to the institution’s governing body reacting to a professor’s recent research paper in a manner that “constitutes institutional harassment, curtails academic freedom, and forces scholars to operate in an environment of fear.”
In its August 16 letter, the department has also demanded to look into the ‘hasty acceptance’ of the resignation of Professor Sabyasachi Das, who resigned from his position as Assistant Professor following the university’s public disassociation from his work in the wake of the political controversy triggered by his findings on ‘manipulation’ in the 2019 general election, which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won.
The faculty have demanded that Das be “unconditionally” offered his position back and asked for affirmation that the governing body will “play no role in evaluating faculty research.”
The letter, which was reposted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) by the department, also said that faculty members would be unable to “carry forward their teaching obligations” if the action is not taken by 23 August.
The letter was also reposted on X by Ashwini Deshpande, Professor of Economics, and Founding Director of the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) at Ashoka University.
“The offer of resignation by our colleague Prof. Sabyasachi Das and its hasty acceptance by the University has deeply ruptured the faith that we in the faculty of the Department of Economics, our colleagues, our students, and well-wishers of Ashoka University everywhere, had reposed in the University’s leadership,” the letter said.
“Prof. Das did not violate any accepted norm of academic practice. Academic research is professionally evaluated through a process of peer review. The Governing Body’s interference in this process to investigate the merits of his recent study constitutes institutional harassment, curtails academic freedom, and forces scholars to operate in an environment of fear,” the letter said.
“We condemn this in the strongest terms and refuse as a collective to cooperate in any future attempt to evaluate the research of individual economics faculty members by the Governing Body.”
The letter said that the Ashoka Economics department was painstakingly built into what is widely considered amongst the preeminent economics departments in the country. “The actions of the Governing Body pose an existential threat to the department. It is likely to precipitate an exodus of faculty, and prevent us from attracting new faculty,” the letter said.
“Unless these questions regarding basic academic freedom are resolved before the start of the monsoon 2023 semester, faculty members of the department will find themselves unable to carry forward their teaching obligations in the spirit of critical enquiry and the fearless pursuit of truth that characterize our classrooms,” it added.
“We urge the governing body to address this immediately, but no later than August 23, 2023. Failure to do so will systematically wreck the largest academic department at Ashoka and the very viability of the Ashoka vision,” the letter said.
Das had authored the controversial paper ‘Democratic Backsliding in the World’s Largest Democracy.’ He resigned weeks after the research created a furore earlier this month for suggesting that the BJP won “disproportionately” in closely contested seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, especially in states where it was in power. The varsity distanced itself from the controversy.
The letter from the economics department came a day after varsity vice-chancellor Somak Raychaudhury in a statement confirmed Prof Das's resignation.
“Dr Das is currently on leave from Ashoka, serving as visiting faculty at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (Deemed to be University) in Pune. After making extensive efforts to dissuade him, the University has accepted his resignation,” the statement said.
The statement further said that “Dr Das’s paper on Indian elections was the subject of widespread controversy after being shared recently on social media, where it was perceived by many to reflect the views of the university… The university does not direct or moderate the research conducted by its faculty and students. This academic freedom also applied to Dr Das.”
Reacting to the statement issued by Ashoka’s economics department on social media, Dani Rodrik, Economist at Harvard Kennedy School, on X said, “Kudos to the Economics Department at Ashoka on speaking out clearly on academic freedom and on unacceptable interference by the university’s governing body.”
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