Monday 28 May, 2007

Jadavpur University notes with deep concern and shock

Date: May 19, 2007


To
Dr. Manoj Soni
Vice-Chancellor
The Maharaja Siyajirao University of Baroda
Fatehgunj, Vadodara: 390002

Dear Sir:

I am directed to quote below a resolution adopted by the Executive Council
(highest decision making body of the University) at the 'Zero Hour' of
meeting held on May 16, 2007 for your kind information:

'This meeting of the Executive Council of Jadavpur University notes with
deep concern and shock the recent events at the M.S. University of Baroda
which included the arrest of a student without any FIR or warrant,
disruption of regular academic activities by police and hooligans, the
suspension of the Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts by the Vice-Chancellor.

This meeting strongly condemns the intrusion of intolerance in one of the
most important institutes of the teaching of the arts in India in the name
of protecting some misguided notion of tradition.

We record our support of the courageous stand of the Dean of the Faculty of
Fine Arts, Professor Shivaji Pannikar.

We condemn this and other similar events, which have tried to vitiate the
traditions of plurality, enquiry and experimentation on academic campuses in
India. We urge all academics, students, artists and intellectuals to take an
active role in ensuring that certain fundamentalist individuals and groups
do not succeed in their efforts to stifle values enshrined in democratic,
artistic, academic and constitutional systems.'

Yours faithfully,


(R Bandyopadhyay)

2 comments:

Blue Glass Grasshopper said...

All this was avoidable with a stong vc but it looks like things have gone bad for msu. Is there no way of a guarantee that a VC will be unbiased and act for the good of the students and the university and not for a political party?

Sad indeed that this is a democracy where no one can do anything and resolve the problem.

It is not a matter of left or right it is a matter of good governance and sanity on part of the executive council and the board of syndicate/ senate members of the University. There seems to be not even one who will stand up for the University !!!

novicerunner said...

So, guys, what is the latest? What is happening in the university? Is that goon Neeraj Jain being charged for disrupting peace in an academic campus? How is Chandramohan? What happened to Prof Pannikar?