© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A day after the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay cancelled Professor Achin Vanaik’s proposed talk on the Israel-Palestine conflict, students from the Humanities and Social Science (HSS) department have written to the Head of the Department (HOD) raising concerns over the loss of academic freedom in the department recently.
The letter signed by nearly 50 students stated, “To restrict us from inviting academicians at the department or to allow the administration to intimidate us by recording our events is tantamount to destroying our academic freedom.”
Pointing out that their research works include criticising the government policy decisions, in the letter the students, said, “We talk on the nuances of Indian society like caste, class and gender that still need to be understood and also work regarding international relations. What might seem like ‘politicising’ to many people in the institute might actually be a part of our research and academic practices. However, recently we have seen talks and conferences getting cancelled at the last moment because apparently, they were not ‘academic’. The usage of department spaces has been made restricted even for book talks, film screenings and seminars on history, sociology, literature or philosophy that might be seen as critical to the government.”
The IIT administration refused to comment on the matter.
