The European Studies Centre at the Delhi Universitys Department of Sociology will be inaugurated on Thursday,despite opposition from the departments own faculty and various students groups. The issue of setting up of a European Study Centre was never discussed and debated in the Department of Sociologys Staff Council,and the group responsible for initiating it informed the faculty only after their proposal was accepted by the European Union. This is completely unprecedented in the functioning of the department, said an open letter bearing the names of seven dissenting faculty members,including four professors. Six faculty members all professors led by the head of the department,Rajni Palriwala,have worked to set up the centre. Various students groups are planning a protest outside the Department of Sociology on Thursday. Newsline had reported on September 29,2009,that the Sociology departments application to set up a European Study Centre had been accepted. At the time,the head of the department had insisted that the proposal was for a programme,and not for a full-fledged centre. This confusion evidently remains on the eve of the inauguration,as the website of the India-EU Study Centres Programme (IESCP) lists Inauguration of the EU Study Centre at Delhi University under events. On the other hand,the PDF file of Thursday agenda in the same website is titled,European Studies Programme at the Department of Sociology. I dont think we should create such a fuss about the issue. It is not a departmental programme; but a project proposed to be run by some teachers of the university, said Vice- Chancellor Deepak Pental. I believe that we should give more academic freedom to our teachers, he added.
