Teachers Allege SAU Administration ‘Curtailing Campus Democracy’

The suspension of four South Asian University (SAU) teachers drew more condemnation on Friday with students, teachers alleging that it is “an attempt to curtail campus democracy” and the situation has deteriorated sharply in the absence of dialogue.

Teachers had appealed to the university administration to engage with students constructively regarding an “adverse decision”, University of Hyderabad Teachers Association (UHTA) president B Shobha said in a statement.

The suspension came months after teachers requested the university administration to resolve issues arising from a student strike for increasing scholarships and fellowships last November and December.

On December 30, 2022, five faculty members received notices from the university administration asking them to respond to several charges, including writing letters to the university community questioning certain administrative decisions in relation to the student protests. The faculty members individually responded to the notice on January 16.

On May 16, the four faculty members received an email notice stating that the Fact-Finding Committee (FCC) would like to interact with them on May 19. The FCC asked them to answer around 132 to 246 questions in writing, the teachers alleged in a letter.

“We expected the university to appreciate these efforts from the teachers and start the communication process. Instead, when things took a really unfortunate turn, even while the teachers continue to appeal to the university to resolve matters, the university subjects four teachers to the most humiliating inquiry process,” she said.

Referring to the teachers’ letter, Shobha maintained that “this kind of inquisition of teachers is highly objectionable and UHTA condemns this most unequivocally. The authorities empowered to ‘take action when required’ does not mean they resort to any level of mistreatment of teachers”.

However, university PRO Aheibam Prahalad had told Newsclick that the FCC was not biased against the teachers and “gave them a chance” to respond to the charges.

Abha Dev Habib, secretary of the Democratic Teachers Front at Delhi University, said that the university was established in 2005 to bring together scholars, scientists and students from all over South Asia.

“How the administrators run this university will only bring a bad name to the country. Such troubling censorship and arbitrary punitive actions are undermining institutional integrity, damaging the democratic space of knowledge exchange, and violating the existing rules and regulations of accountability and procedural transparency,” she told Newsclick.

All India Forum for Right to Education chairperson Jagmohan Singh said that the “situation should never have been allowed to deteriorate in this manner and it cannot be allowed further”.

“The university could have easily resolved the issue of increasing scholarships and research grants via negotiations with the faculty’s help. But the situation was allowed to deteriorate by calling the police on the campus, resulting in an indefinite hunger strike by some students,” he said.

Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of the State Platform for Common School System, Tamil Nadu, who had signed the appeal to the university, commented similarly.

“Suppressing a struggle will only result in far-reaching negative consequences. Issues concerning students should be resolved democratically. The struggle should not be misunderstood as a challenge to the administration,” he added.

Justifying the faculty’s support for the students, “When the university administration failed to understand the issues properly, it became mandatory for the teachers to support the students’ genuine demands. Standing in solidarity with them ensures they are not alone. It is a way to pacify the students. Teachers are not clerical staff or servants of the administration.”

The appeal further read: “When the grievances are genuine, when people are suffering, when a struggle is the only option available to highlight demands, it becomes natural for informed citizens to help people organise themselves to defend their democratic rights. Blaming the teachers for the struggle and stating that the teachers incited the students is nothing but intimidatory tactics—an attempt by the administration to cover up its mishandling of students’ struggle.”

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) sent a notice to the SAU president and the University Grants Commission chairman asking them to appear before it to reply to the complaint of former students that their batchmate Ammar Ahmed had collapsed and was shifted to Primus Hospital’s ICU after he was humiliated by acting vice-president Senthil Venugopal.

“Despite directions of the Commission dated 09/01/2023, the chairman, University Grants Commission, New Delhi, and president, South Asian University, South West Delhi, have not submitted the requisite report to the Commission so far despite reminder dated 06.04.2023,” the notice reads.

The NHRC directed the “registry to issue summons to the chairman, University Grants Commission, New Delhi, and president, South Asian University, South West Delhi, u/s 13 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, to appear in person before the commission on 25.08.2023 at 11 00 hrs along with the requisite report”.

SAU president Ranjan Mohanty and Prahalad didn’t respond to questions e-mailed by Newsclick.