Political Science general body meet rejects semesters

Wednesday’s meeting was crucial as Political Science had earlier been one of the first departments to agree to the semester system in-principle. Also,the meeting took place a day before the hearing of the writ petition filed by the Delhi University Teachers’ Association at the Delhi High Court,challenging the legality of the semester system. It was also the first time a department discussed the repercussions of the decisions taken at the Academic Council meeting on Monday.

Two of the three resolutions passed during Wednesday’s GBM were about the semester system. Both were passed by overwhelming majority. Teachers who were part of the drafting process said one of the resolutions rejected the semester system in its current form,stating that the proposed system is academically unviable,and would lead to the exclusion of a particular section of students from the academic system.

The other resolution talks of the sweeping powers the Vice-Chancellor gave himself at the Academic Council meeting on Monday. The V-C is now authorised to even bifurcate syllabi if departments do not semesterise them. “The resolution strongly condemned the flouting of norms,use of threats and bypassing procedures in case departments didn’t comply,” said a teacher.

The meeting did not discuss the future of the contingency syllabus. Head of Department P K Datta had told Newsline on Saturday that the preparation of the contingency syllabus was in its final stages.