Shillong: The Joint Action Committee (JAC) comprising the teaching and non-teaching staff of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) formed in 2009 to protest the proposed withdrawal of Hill Area Special Allowance (HASA) by the Executive Council of the University has now become the Achilles Heel of NEHU.
Senior faculty who are concerned about the rapid degeneration of the quality of education and general academic atmosphere in NEHU including the turf wars within the University and the lack of accountability of the faculty members who spend the greater part of their time in petty politics, have expressed serious misgivings about the vested interest of the JAC.
“The JAC is quick to point out the misdemeanours of past and present Vice Chancellors and to level allegations of corruption that are largely unsubstantiated but they do not keep a tab on faculty members (teaching staff) who shirk their duties and do not fulfill even their minimum teaching commitments,” said a senior professor, adding that the non-teaching staff also take cover under the protective mantle of the JAC when any disciplinary action is contemplated against them for non-delivery and indiscipline.
Another professor pointed to an article written by Prof SB Lall in 2004 which appeared in the Journal, University Today. In the article titled, ‘Disappearing Intellectual Freedom in Higher Education,’ Prof Lall wrote, “The vanishing species of hard core intellectuals is indeed a disappointing feature. Salary, power, perks and avenues to ‘milk’ the system financially are unfortunately becoming the integral part of a substantial and significant population of academicians.”
The professor said what Lall wrote then is fully manifest in the NEHU of today.
Several faculty members who feel a deep sense of despair about the current situation in NEHU said that the JAC wants to push for a Vice Chancellor of its choice so they can dictate terms to him/ her. They pointed out that the suggestions made recently for a Search Committee for VC comprising people they have handpicked, is arbitrary and bodes ill for NEHU.
“It will be difficult for anyone to come and take over NEHU as Vice Chancellor with the JAC hanging over his/ her head like the Sword of Damocles. It would be better for the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) to quickly constitute a Search Committee for a new VC for NEHU and not allow any vested group to push names of their nominees,” another professor, who did not wish his name mentioned, said.
The atmosphere in NEHU is so vitiated that professors are wary to speak their minds and would only do so on condition that they are not quoted.
When the Union HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju was in Shillong and had visited Raj Bhavan he was heard to have said that it is time for bureaucrats and defence officers to become VCs of Universities because what is needed is strict administration. While this remark might have drawn some flak from those who heard him say that, there are many who agree that central universities like NEHU need tough leadership and administrative experts to set things right.
“There are several senior professors who have done no teaching in a long time. Others have just been filing one court case after another, not for the overall good of the University but more out of pique to spite the respective Vice Chancellors. All these dirty shenanigans must end,” the professor, who expressed her concern, said.
Other faculty members have said that the idea being floated around that the next VC should be a local person is not healthy. They feel that the most capable person with sound academic credentials and a non-nonsense outlook is what NEHU needs at this juncture.