Intervention

Source : http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=77097

This refers to "University, Union, and intervention" by Babu Ram Neupane (18 June). He has brought to the forefront two important issues that are plaguing our academia- politicization via university administrators and unionism of the faculty members. However, both these issues deal with the basic trait of a university - its autonomy. The very fact that universities are for creation, storage and propagation of knowledge implies that any university must function with full autonomy. Without autonomy, no student and faculty member would ever be able to shatter existing myths and bring new truths. The science of learning tells that we have to question every thing that is not well explained and well understood. This is possible only when full autonomy is granted to all the students and teachers.

However, because of our partisan mindsets, we are susceptible to advocate self-serving definitions of university autonomy. We can see that some of our University administrators, as exemplified by Dr. Suresh Raj Sharma, suggest that university autonomy means no-government control in the functioning of any university while he himself tries to control setting-up of Kathmandu University Professors' Association (KUPA).

Going by his own definition of university autonomy, he should have no right to oppose the KUPA. Moreover, he claims that the government cannot even intervene in the affairs of the university while he conveniently forgets that during exigency government can even jettison existing constitution.

The university administrators of his ilk opine that the overactive political affiliations of NUTA and TUTA have taken respective universities hostage and academic activities are severely affected. Though the buck has been passed to the unions of the teachers, the role of such administrators for vitiating the academic environment of the university has not gone unnoticed. University administrators, be it of Kathmandu University or Tribhuvan University, have never let any chance of running their hegemony in the university.

Though they represent the teaching fraternity, their actions have always been towards their own perpetuation. Their avarice to stick to power has forced them to resort to many non-academic activities like inviting the king and his henchmen in a university premise, openly ingratiating with the despotic royal regime, and dividing the teaching community into groups.

In exchange for their own perpetuation, they accept all kinds of governmental influences and do not hesitate to oblige the government by appointing incompetent faculty members, teachers, and administrative staffs. When they can do this just for pleasing the government, what they would do for their own benefits can be easily conjectured. There is no doubt that the university administrators are more responsible for the present mess in our academia. Had they implemented the university autonomy devoid of governmental influence in every aspect while maintaining the highest academic integrity, nobody would have ever asked for governmental intervention. When they are involved in gross nepotism and rampant corruption, it is natural that the government intervention is called for.

And when the government involves itself, the politicians in our government leave no chance to accrue undue benefits.

Therefore, if the administrators themselves are to exemplify the university autonomy by preventing unhealthy practices, even erring faculty members would be under moral obligation to mend their ways. Academic authorities can never accuse the faculty members of resorting to unionism and political activism unless they stop their own practices of politicking. Therefore, the issue has always been practicing university autonomy in true spirit, not in partisan way.

S B Shrestha
The University of Tokyo

Posted on: 2006-06-18 20:51:06 (Server Time)