Students and teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Tuesday held a protest outside the venue of the Executive Council meeting that was being conducted to pass a number of decisions taken at the 142nd Academic Council (AC) meeting held on December 26.
The teachers’ and students’ representatives said the decisions taken at the AC meeting were passed “undemocratically” and could change the character of the university. They added that Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar had declared that all decisions had been passed without any discussion taking place.
The executive councilmeeting concluded late on Tuesday and although there was no official communication from the university or the members, sources said the executive council had passed all decisions taken at the 142nd AC meeting.
Weightage of interview
These decisions include a change in the admission process following a UGC circular issued on May 5, 2016 that makes the entrance examination for M.Phil/Ph.D programmes only a qualification exam, making the interview the sole criteria for admission. This decision comes despite a struggle since 2012 to reduce the weightage of the interview in the entrance process, after university-appointed Prof. Abdul Nafel Committee found rampant discrimination against students from marginalised communities at interviews.
The other decisions include hiking the fee for the JNU entrance exam, changing the constitution of the faculty selection committee to give the V-C complete power over selection, and introducing certificate courses on Yoga Philosophy.
Venue moved
The drama on the campus started at 2 p.m. As protests began outside the JNU Convention Centre where the executive council meeting was to be held, the administration moved the venue to the Academic Block. This allowed all members to reach the venue without facing any resistance. Protests continued throughout the five-hour-long meeting at Freedom Square with teachers and students speaking about the implications of the AC’s decisions, if passed by the executive council.
In a letter to the V-C the teachers said: “No administration in JNU's four decade-long history has held such a continuous record of undemocratic and authoritarian functioning, as has been achieved in the 11 months since your takeover.” They also said there has been a “public misinterpretation” of what transpired at the AC meeting in the official statements of the administration.
‘Meeting illegal’
Nivedita Menon, Professor at the School of International Studies, said: “We have to fight this V-C and and the anti-social justice agenda of the administration. The EC meeting being held today is illegal as the minutes of the previous AC meeting have not been passed by its members and therefore the 142nd AC meeting was illegal.” “
Car surrounded
Once the executive council meeting ended, students formed a human chain around the exit route of the V-C and sought to hand over to him a memorandum and speak to him about his decisions. When the V-C refused to speak amidst the shouting of slogans and all the commotion and got into his car, students surrounded the car and prevented him from leaving. After a stand-off, the driver of the car managed to whisk the V-C away from the protesting students.