Mukul Kesavan - An Ashoka for our time // Navneet Sharma and Prakrati Bhargava: No space for liberal education
NB: The authorities of a self-respecting university or college are expected to defend their staff and students. That was the case, anyway, when I was a student over 50 years ago. But Ashoka's Founders were so infuriated by Professor Mehta's criticisms of the Modi government that they not only pushed him out of the Vice Chancellor's position in 2019, but also thought fit to put an end to his place in the classroom altogether. Instead of protecting him, they threw him under the bus, to use a colourful American expression. They followed up the betrayal with sweet, even boastful, talk. Everything is sweetness and light, it appears, there have only been some 'lapses'. Publicly humiliating one of your senior staff is a 'lapse' gentlemen?
There is now afloat a smoke-screen about standing by academic freedom - as if that was at issue. The issue is whether teachers and students retain citizen's rights whilst remaining part of the university community. As long as they do not violate the law, can a teacher or a student be penalised by the university for exercising citizen's rights? This issue is not reducible to the case of Professor Mehta. What if some students criticise the government of the day, and phone-calls are exchanged amongst VIPs - should students not expect the authorities to defend them, as long as they have not broken the law? Should unpopularity with the government render them vulnerable to rustication?
If the governments' well-wishers among Ashoka's Founders and donors disliked Professor Mehta's views so intensely, what prevented them from engaging with him in public debate? Why didn't the rest of the Founders call for such a debate? Surely this could easily have been arranged on campus or outside. Why didn't they say: 'whether or not we agree with Professor Mehta's opinions, he has a right to speak his mind'? Are the numerous pro-RSS voices in public (let alone private) campuses in India's universities under threat of being silenced by governing bodies? Instead of defending his rights as a citizen, Ashoka's Founders engineered Professor Mehta's complete and final departure from the University.
Why are the people in power so afraid of rational debate and why are Ashoka's Founders going along with this despotic attitude? Do they place any value on their own autonomy and dignity? If the Founders think keeping their donors happy is good enough reason to sell their souls, they should stop marketing Ashoka as a liberal arts university. If they too believe that India's future depends upon everyone thinking the same thoughts and worshipping the same way, I suggest a better way to keep India's Supreme Leader happy. Hand over all appointments to the Headquarters of Truth, located in Nagpur. They can then set about rectifying the damage done by the anti-national elements who have been spoiling young minds at Ashoka University. DS
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Dhamma descending: An Ashoka for our times
Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s departure from Ashoka University was followed by a flurry of letters and statements by the concerned parties which had the effect of obscuring rather than clarifying the issues it raised. In his own letter of resignation, Mehta stated his reason for leaving plainly: “After a meeting with Founders it has become abundantly clear to me that my association with the University may be considered a political liability. My public writing in support of a politics that tries to honour constitutional values of freedom and equal respect for all citizens, is perceived to carry risks for the university. In the interests of the University I resign.”
That last sentence is curious because Ashoka’s reason for
being is that it’s modelled on the best liberal arts colleges and universities
elsewhere. It cannot be in the interest of such a university to have one of its
most distinguished professors resign because his public writings vigorously
defend constitutional values and freedoms. If a professor of evolutionary
biology were made to resign from a university because her robust critique of
Creationism had annoyed powerful people (or annoyed wealthy donors acting as
proxies for powerful people), would she declare that she was resigning in the
best interest of the university? I don’t think so….
Ashoka University: Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s letter and my comment DS
Ashoka University: Correspondence on Professor P. B. Mehta's Resignation
Universities like Ashoka are best understood as liberal arts universities with Indian characteristics. The philanthropists who fund and found these universities loom over them like colossi. The virtue of giving generously seems to purge them of self-awareness. In every official communication I’ve read, Ashoka’s founders capitalize their consequence: they are Founders. Ashoka’s board of trustees sent a statement to the faculty declaring that they had never interfered with the academic functioning of the university nor the freedom of faculty members to write about anything they wanted, in any forum that they wanted. That they could write this soon after seeing Mehta off the premises gives chutzpah a new meaning. They signalled their commitment to the autonomy of the university by endorsing the appointment of an Ombudsperson. A Lokpal. Fancy that....
https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/dhamma-descending-an-ashoka-for-our-times/cid/1810842
Navneet Sharma and Prakrati Bhargava: No space for liberal education
Resignation letters are supposed to be answers, but few
resignations pose more questions than the answers that they were supposed to
give. Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s (PBM) letter of resignation from Ashoka University
or his earlier letters of resignation from the National Knowledge Commission
and Nehru Memorial Museum and Library have raised more questions than answers.
The fundamental questions about the idea of education and the functioning of
educational institutions; what education may produce if it is not expected to
inculcate critical thinking and reflection; why educational institutions must
be accountable to the state and what does autonomy mean for a privately-funded
university which stands on the idea of liberal education?
Mehta’s resignation is not about an individual and an
institution coming to an agreement to terminate their mutual agreement but how
and why a higher educational institution (even though it is private) could ask
a teacher to resign only because s/he had a different and dissenting opinion,
which became a political liability for his/her employer. It is not about
Mehta’s writings alone - the people at the helm may have rejoiced when he
compared the PM to Charles De Gaulle - but it is about the inability of the
system to reckon with dissent. It also speaks of how the Indian higher
education system has evolved, especially in its attempt to get decolonised….
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/pratap-bhanu-mehta-asokha-university-resignation-7249004/
Ashoka University: Correspondence on Professor P. B. Mehta's Resignation
Amita Baviskar: Ashoka and After: The Universities We
Believe In
Mitali Saran - Standing your ground: A toolkit
STATEMENT BY ASHOKA UNIVERSITY FACULTY - March 18, 2021
Founders made clear I was political liability for
Ashoka University: Pratap Bhanu Mehta
