No end to controversy as students and admin in JNU stand divided
NEWDELHI: The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration on Sunday said that “agitations by a small section of students tacitly supported by some faculty members” obstructed the holding of viva-voce exams for those students who had cleared the entrance exams as an acting dean was not allowed to enter the school building.
The students’ union members in turn alleged that wardens are inspecting hostel rooms of selected students; a claim denied by the dean of students, Umesh Ashok Kadam.
This is the latest in the central university, which has been grabbing headlines over the past week.
On Wednesday, seven chairpersons and a dean of school were replaced because they allegedly failed to comply with the minimum compulsory attendance mandate. A day later, a group of students filed complaints of sexual harassment against a professor. The Delhi police have registered an FIR and are probing the case.
On Sunday, a statement by the registrar, on student allegedly refusing the acting dean to enter the building and hence obstructing the viva-voce exams said, “the JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA) and JNU Students Union (JNUSU) have made common cause to make baseless allegations against the administration and launch one after the other agitations.”
Protests have become commonplace in JNU, with the fault lines between the students’ and teachers’ bodies and the administration deepening. Even in the case where a professor was booked for allegedly sexually harassing students, the students’ union alleged that the administration is shielding the teacher, and hence has not suspended him yet. Taking the protests forward, a group of students will be submitting a memorandum to the Delhi Commission for Women on Monday to look into the matter.
This constant state of turmoil is relatively new, Ayesha Kidwai, the previous president of the JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA), said.
“It is easy to think that a bunch of Left activists are agitating against the administration. But it is students and teachers of all sides and ideologies that is agitating against the administration, which is right-wing. When jobs are in danger, scholarships are in danger... there is a universalisation of feeling tortured,” she said.
Amita Singh, chairperson at Special Centre for Disaster Research and one of the teachers who was there at the press conference that the professor accused of harassment had led defending the administration’s move to mandate attendance, said that “there is a political angle” to these controversies.
“The way the professor had been leading the movement, I had jokingly warned him about how the next noose would be around his neck.. Right now, if a man or woman comes forward in support of the administration, their voice will be scuttled,” she said.
Kidwai agrees there is politics involved, but placed the onus on the administration.
Many student activists had also shared images of the teacher in question, wherein he is seen with leaders of the ABVP and BJP factions, questioning whether his political views had shielded him from a suspension. “Which V-C will allow a professor with... sexual harassment charges to continue, and wait for him to resign? It is of course because of his association,” said Kidwai.