Ashoka University professors are threatening an exodus. Here’s why

Haryana’s Ashoka University is in turmoil.

Another professor in the university’s economics department has resigned and a slew of others have penned a letter threatening a faculty exodus.

But what happened? And why is this happening?

Let’s take a closer look:

 Pulapre Balakrishnan, a professor at the university’s economics department, has resigned.

 The development comes just days after Sabyasachi Das, an assistant professor at Ashoka University, resigned following a controversy over his research paper Democratic Backsliding in the World’s Largest Democracy.

 “Yes, I have resigned. It is related to Das’s resignation,” Balakrishnan told Indian Express.

Meanwhile, Das’ colleagues, in a letter to the governing body said they won’t teach until he is reinstated and warned of an exodus.

Open letter to the governing body of Ashoka University from the economics department pic.twitter.com/DSfnF4Ez55

— Economics @ Ashoka (@EconAtAshoka) August 16, 2023

The governing body comprises Ashoka University Chancellor Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Vice Chancellor Somak Raychaudhury, Madhu Chandak, Puneet Dalmia, Ashish Dhawan, Pramath Raj Sinha, Siddharth Yog, Deep Kalra and Ziaa Lalka.

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The open letter by professors said, “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.”

“We condemn this in the strongest terms and refuse as a collective to cooperate in any future attempt to evaluate the research of individual economics faculty members by the governing body.”

The letter alleged that the actions of the governing body pose an existential threat to the department and is likely to precipitate an exodus of faculty and prevent the university from attracting new faculty.

The departments of English and creative writing have also demanded Das’ reinstatement in a joint statement.

They wrote that they would not be able to carry out their teaching obligations “unless questions regarding basic academic freedoms are resolved before the Monsoon 2023 semester”.

“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,” the letter read.

“We urge the governing body to address this immediately, but no later than 23 August, 2023. Failure to do so will systematically wreck the largest academic department at Ashoka and the very viability of the Ashoka vision,” it added.

Demanding that the governing body unconditionally reoffer Sabyasachi his position and also affirm that it will play no role in evaluating faculty research, the letter said, “Unless these questions regarding basic academic freedoms are resolved before the start of the Monsoon 2023 semester, faculty members of the department will find themselves unable to carry forward their teaching obligations in the spirit of critical enquiry and the fearless pursuit of truth that characterize our classrooms”.

Scroll, quoting two persons in the know, reported that the governing body formed a committee to “evaluate” Das’s paper – following which they asked for changes to be made.

That led Das to resign, they claimed.

Indian Express reported that Amit Chaudhuri, Head of Department, professor of creative writing, in a letter to the Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Faculty warned of “ongoing threats to the all-important domain of academic freedom”.

Chaudhuri told the newspaper, “We framed this letter because we thought the situation had been dealt with in a way that was not admissible in a university and also because we had a document for academic freedom that was framed after the departure of Pratap Bhanu Mehta which had guidelines and commitments that are the university’s official positions about academic freedom and not some tweet whose origins we know nothing about. One thing that will happen now, hopefully quickly, is the institution of a Committee for Academic Freedom so that ad hoc decisions which we know nothing about become impossible.”

What’s the controversy?

Das in his paper argued that the BJP won a disproportionate share of closely contested parliamentary seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, especially in states where it was the ruling party at the time.

The research was published on the Social Science Research Network on 25 July.

Das had claimed that the alleged electoral manipulation by the BJP also appeared to have taken the form of targeted electoral discrimination against Muslims, “partly facilitated by weak monitoring by election observers”.

According to Das’ paper, the “disproportionate” wins were never observed in past elections by BJP or Congress, and also that they were mainly seen in states ruled by BJP at that time.

His paper cites that the reasons for this could be that either the BJP committed electoral fraud or it was able to accurately predict closely contested seats and mobilise party workers to campaign more intensively.

As per The Telegraph, the paper, presented at the National Bureau of Economic Research in the US last month included a disclaimer that this was not proof of fraud and that such wins would not have impacted the overall Lok Saha results.

The university had then distanced itself from the paper after criticism and had stated that social media activity or public activism by Ashoka faculty, students or staff in their “individual capacity” does not reflect its stand.

Ashoka University is dismayed by the speculation and debate around a recent paper by one of its faculty members (Sabyasachi Das, Assistant Professor of Economics) and the university's position on its contents.

As a matter of record, Ashoka University is focused on excellence in…

— Ashoka University (@AshokaUniv) August 1, 2023

Das later resigned and the university had accepted his resignation.

As per Scroll, 82 faculty of Ashoka University had on a letter dated 13 August urged the formation of a Committee for Academic Freedom to “bring in transparency and procedural fairness”.

The letter was addressed to the Vice-Chancellor and the Dean of Faculty.

Swaraj India founder and political activist Yogendra Yadav lauded the step taken by the faculty members, saying, “Good to see some academics standing up in this climate of fear. Salute Prof Pulapre Balakrishnan”.

This isn’t the first time Ashoka University has witnessed controversy.

According to The Telegraph, Pratap Bhanu Mehta in 2021 resigned from the university claiming that its founders told him he is a “political liability”.

Economist Arvind Subramanian also resigned ‘in solidarity’ with Mehta.

In 2016, Ashoka University in Sonepat asked for the resignation for two of its staff who signed a petition asking for a plebiscite and demilitarization in Kashmir.

With inputs from agencies