Another professor quits Ashoka University; 3 departments warn teaching may get stalled | Delhi News – Times of India
With the two faculty members resigning, the others in the department have in an open letter demanded that an “unconditional offer of appointment” be made to Das and sought an “affirmation” that the governing body would “not play any role in evaluating faculty research through any committee”.
Backing Das and raising questions about “academic freedom”, the English and creative writing departments have echoed the economics faculty’s letter and warned that if the matter is not addressed by August 23, they would be “unable to carry forward their teaching obligations in the spirit of critical enquiry”.
Ashoka University row: Open letter claims ‘existential threat’
I have submitted my resignation,” Balakrishnan confirmed to TOI, but declined to discuss anything else. On being asked if the resignation had been accepted, he said, “On that, I don’t want to say anything.”
The university had confirmed Das’s resignation in a statement Monday night, saying it had been accepted. After Das’s research paper titled ‘Democratic Backsliding in the World’s Largest Democracy’ was shared on social media, the university had on August 1 distanced itself from the controversy and said that the paper “has not yet completed a critical review process and has not been published in an academic journal”.
The open letter by the faculty of the department of economics says: “The offer of resignation by our colleague, Prof Sabyasachi Das, and its hasty acceptance by the university has deeply ruptured the faith that we in the faculty of the department of economics, our colleagues, our students and well-wishers of Ashoka University everywhere had reposed in the university’s leadership. Prof Das did not violate any accepted norm of academic practice. Academic research is professionally evaluated through a process of peer review. The governing body’s interference in this process to investigate the merits of his recent study constitutes institutional harassment, curtails academic freedom and forces scholars to operate in an environment of fear.”
The letter said the actions of the governing body pose an “existential threat” to the department, adding, “It is likely to precipitate an exodus of faculty and prevent us from attracting new faculty.”
An email from the English and creative writing departments expressed the hope that “Ashoka’s social media handles will cease putting out statements discrediting the academic research by its faculty in future”.
Before Das and Balakrishnan submitted their resignations, 89 faculty members of the university had submitted a letter to the university on August 13 demanding the formation of a “committee on academic freedom” as delineated in a policy document prepared in 2021 which is part of ‘Handbook of Faculty Policies’.
“It will bring much needed transparency and procedural fairness when such situations arise. The absence of both are being felt acutely at the moment. It would also prevent on such occasions both public pronouncements that claim to speak on behalf of Ashoka University of whose provenance almost no one at the university is aware,” the letter had said. It added that all decisions on “academic freedom should be put on hold until the committee is in place”.
In 2021, the resignation of then vice chancellor and well-known commentator Pratap Bhanu Mehta was mired in controversy. He had said that he had become a “political liability” for the university. Soon after that, economist and founding director of the new Ashoka Center for Economic Policy, Arun Subramaniam, also quit.
