Hatekar effect? Mumbai University to scan faculty emails
Mumbai University's all-faculty email account has been blocked by the administration, which feels it is vital to pore over communication among professors before it gets out.
The group email id, allusers@mu.ac.in, encompasses all faculty members, totalling about 100. Any professor could freely reach out to the entire teaching fraternity via the ID, which is hosted on the university's server. The discussions include issues like academics, infrastructure, governance and finance. The reason for move is unclear, but some say the authorities feel threatened by teachers' unity, as reflected during Prof Neeraj Hatekar's suspension.
"Welcome to censorship! History is replete with examples of how such attempts by even more powerful tyrants have ended. I am sure the faculty will not take this lying down," said a senior faculty member. "On Wednesday afternoon, when I tried to send an email to discuss an academic matter, it didn't go through the system. On inquiring, I was told a new process was in place," said a professor.
Sources said from now on professors must send their emails to the common helpdesk, which will filter the content and then forward it to the persons concerned. Enraged faculty members said they can create a common group on any online platform and discuss matters. "The all-users group was a free and democratic one. If it had members who were critical of certain matters, it even had faculty who defended the university's policies," said a faculty member.
The vice-chancellor and the pro-vice-chancellor did not respond to TOI's calls for comment. The university's PRO said, "The group (allusers) has been created for varsity officials and it is on." When TOI tried to send a mail to the ID, it did not go through. The mail delivery failure message read, "We're writing to let you know that the group you tried to contact (allusers) may not exist, or you may not have permission to post messages to the group." The message contained other details about why the mail was not delivered: "You might have spelled or formatted the group name incorrectly, the owner of the group may have removed this group, you may need to join the group before receiving permission to post or this group may not be open to posting."
Teachers said there were rumours that the authorities felt the group was leading to "discontent on campus, which was spreading like wildfire", but they had no idea the group would be pulled off the server.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Hatekar-effect-Mumbai-University-to-scan-faculty-emails/articleshow/29226103.cms
The group email id, allusers@mu.ac.in, encompasses all faculty members, totalling about 100. Any professor could freely reach out to the entire teaching fraternity via the ID, which is hosted on the university's server. The discussions include issues like academics, infrastructure, governance and finance. The reason for move is unclear, but some say the authorities feel threatened by teachers' unity, as reflected during Prof Neeraj Hatekar's suspension.
"Welcome to censorship! History is replete with examples of how such attempts by even more powerful tyrants have ended. I am sure the faculty will not take this lying down," said a senior faculty member. "On Wednesday afternoon, when I tried to send an email to discuss an academic matter, it didn't go through the system. On inquiring, I was told a new process was in place," said a professor.
Sources said from now on professors must send their emails to the common helpdesk, which will filter the content and then forward it to the persons concerned. Enraged faculty members said they can create a common group on any online platform and discuss matters. "The all-users group was a free and democratic one. If it had members who were critical of certain matters, it even had faculty who defended the university's policies," said a faculty member.
The vice-chancellor and the pro-vice-chancellor did not respond to TOI's calls for comment. The university's PRO said, "The group (allusers) has been created for varsity officials and it is on." When TOI tried to send a mail to the ID, it did not go through. The mail delivery failure message read, "We're writing to let you know that the group you tried to contact (allusers) may not exist, or you may not have permission to post messages to the group." The message contained other details about why the mail was not delivered: "You might have spelled or formatted the group name incorrectly, the owner of the group may have removed this group, you may need to join the group before receiving permission to post or this group may not be open to posting."
Teachers said there were rumours that the authorities felt the group was leading to "discontent on campus, which was spreading like wildfire", but they had no idea the group would be pulled off the server.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Hatekar-effect-Mumbai-University-to-scan-faculty-emails/articleshow/29226103.cms
