All’s not well at Panjab University?

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 11

Though Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) has claimed that university's faculty is united on the issue of conducting Senate elections, a verbal spat, which took place on a WhatsApp group yesterday, depicts the situation otherwise.

In a statement yesterday, PUTA said the issue of division among faculty members on Senate elections was not only mischievous and misleading, but also misrepresenting the sentiment of the teaching community.

However, during a discussion on a WhatsApp group having over 200 faculty members, a former chairperson of a department said, "Those dissatisfied with the PU system are free to leave it for better places. But nobody should mess up with the system."

The argument started when group members were discussing wording on a banner raised in yesterday's protest on which it was written "VC Traitor".

"I am not part of that group. Being a teacher, we have to examine what should be said on a public platform. Social media is a platform where everyone is free to express anything, but it doesn't mean that it's the voice of the association or community," said Amarjit Singh Naura, secretary, PUTA. When asked if it's appropriate to tell faculty members to leave the group, Naura added, "No this is not the right way."

"PUTA executive is the only legitimate mouthpiece of varsity teachers and it does not endorse vicious designs of the Vice-Chancellor and his coterie, which only works to please the master. The executive has passed resolutions in its recent meetings for immediate holding of Syndicate meeting and Senate elections," said PUTA in its statement.

As reported in these columns earlier, Panjab University is now a house divided among faculties over the issue of dissolving Senate. While former Senate members took out a protest march on the campus against dissolution of House on Monday, many faculty members supported the PU's decision to scrap the Senate ahead of the implementation of the New Education Policy (NEP). Despite this fact, PUTA has termed reports misleading and mischievous.

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