Suspended JNU students allowed to register for new semester

The nine students who were suspended by Jawaharlal Nehru University for allegedly disrupting the 142nd Academic Council (AC) meeting held on December 26 have

been allowed to register themselves for the winter semester 2017. However, the enquiry against them still continues. Calling the development a step forward for the united struggle of the JNU community, the JNU Students' Union said that it rejects any such “vindictive enquiry”.

The Union said that it was in fact the Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar who disrupted the AC meeting and if anybody's actions had to be investigated for disrupting the meeting, it was that of the V-C. “We will resist any further attempts to victimise the students,” the Union said.

The nine students who belong mostly to marginalised and oppressed communities were protesting outside the venue of the AC meeting against the discussion of an item on the agenda to increase the importance of the interview for admission into MPhil/PhD courses in accordance with a UGC notification of May 5, 2016 and a hike in the admission process.

The students were served suspension notices on December 27, the day after the meeting was held allegedly without the democratic process of setting up an enquiry committee. The suspension came a day after the administration released a statement saying that the AC meeting had been conducted peacefully and it was only after that meeting was over did a few students enter the meeting room and shout slogans. It was only after much protest, that an enquiry committee was formed.

The students found support from teachers and students for what they called a “vindictive and arbitrary method of slapping students with suspension notices on false and trumped up charges” by the proctors office. Some of the teachers who came out in support of the nine students were also served notices for speaking at a public meeting outside the administration block.

The JNUSU also lashed out at the administration for “structurally killing social justice and destroying JNU's inclusive character”. In a two-day university strike, the students demanded that the recommendations of the Nafey Committee constituted by the administration itself that further reduces the dependence on the interview be implemented. They demanded that the UGC notification on May 5 be rejected and the 142nd AC meeting be reconvened.