Kolkata: More than 5,700 alumni, students, teachers, researchers and well-wishers of Jadavpur University have submitted a letter to governor R N Ravi, also the university’s chancellor, demanding immediate action to safeguard the institute’s autonomy, freedom of education and research, and its overall excellence.
The petition, started by alumnus Subhendu Bhadra, founder of JU Global Alumni, followed the vandalism on the campus on Aug 19 and 20. “The ongoing programmes, involving external political functionaries and activists in the vicinity and inside the campus, have created a deeply alarming situation for the peace, security, education and autonomy of the university. We strongly oppose the use of the university premises as a venue for external political gatherings and displays of power,” read the letter, which has signatures of Anupam Basu, Raja Ramanna chair professor and former NIT durgapur director, former JU VC Bhaskar Gupta and retired JU professor Tarun Kanti Naskar among others. Highlighting JU’s historic legacy, the petition reminds the chancellor that the university was founded on the progressive ideals of the National Council of Education and the Dawn Society. The signatories emphasised that JU had always been an independent sphere of education, research, free-thinking, secularism and democratic intellectual practice. The letter asserts that the practice and nurturing of free and critical thinking, as well as pluralism, form the core foundation of the institute’s excellence, making the academic freedom of its teachers and students an absolute prerequisite for maintaining its high standards.