Killing JNU: Throttling of academic freedoms will also affect campuses elsewhere

It is beyond the capability of the faculty and students of the JNU to save it from an administration which is at war with it. It is the duty of the society, not only its alumni, who are in powerful positions to speak out but also those who have never been to it, for the very existence of spaces like JNU have helped us in thinking about possibilities which can become realities.

Jawaharlal Nehru University, jnu faculty gets chargesheet, teachers at jnu given chargesheet, jnu vice chancellor, protest in JNU, — Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

September 20 is the birthday of Chandrashekhar, the young leftist leader who was killed in Siwan in 1997. He was a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, the president of its students’union. We organise an annual memorial lecture in his name at Patna . This year, we decided to invite a professor from his university to deliver the lecture. She said a cautious yes, as she was not sure if she would be given leave. For the past three years, teachers of JNU have seen their leave applications rejected, not only for popular lectures like the one above but also for seminars organised by their professional bodies or peers. But we insisted that she should try. We wrote her a formal invitation letter.