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JNU justifies reviewing position of emeritus professors
New Delhi: A day after Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) demanded retraction of letters sent to 12 emeritus professors seeking details of
New Delhi: A day after Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) demanded retraction of letters sent to 12 emeritus professors seeking details of their work, the university administration on Wednesday said the process was to ensure other distinguished professors could get a chance at it. It also said “there is a motive to defame administrative reforms and application of rules.”
“There are 21 emeritus professors in JNU —17 from social sciences and humanities and four from sciences. One can see that there is a huge skew in the earlier appointments of Emeritus Professors,” registrar Pramod Kumar said in a statement.
He further said that faculty members “who could have positively guided upcoming researchers” have “missed out in the past from being appointed as an Emeritus Professor.” Explaining the university’s stand, Kumar said the objective was to set up an age limit “so that justice is given to the deserving retired faculty members”.
The university was embroiled in a controversy after it was found that it had sent letters to 12 emeritus professors, including historian Romila Thapar, who had attained the age of 75 years, seeking their current resume for evaluation. The JNU cited ordinance 32 of the university, which was introduced in August 2018, that allows the executive council (EC) to review the continuation of professors emeritus of age 75 years and above.
Registar Kumar on Wednesday said the JNU was not targeting single emeritus professor as alleged by many. “A motivated campaign was soon launched using the name of one emeritus professor, among many, primarily to find fault with a new rule,” he said.
The statement comes a day after JNUTA accused JNU administration of engaging in “blatant falsehood” by claiming that the letter to Romila Thapar was sent with the objective of ascertaining Thapar’s “availability” and “willingness” to continue her “association with the university” and not to assess her for continuation. The teachers’ association also demanded that letters to all professors emeriti be immediately retracted, any review of their performance put to an end, and a personal apology be tendered to each of them.
