Mumbai: Days after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) banned the Progressive Students’ Forum (PSF) on its campuses, the student body has written to the institute’s chancellor demanding revocation of the decision.
Calling the ban “a direct attack” on academic freedom and the constitutional right to freedom of association, assembly and free speech, PSF objected to the language used by the TISS administration in the office order announcing the ban. The letter also targets TISS officials for its various attempts to “stifle campus democracy”.
“This sudden declaration of PSF as ‘unauthorised’ or ‘illegal’ is shocking, to say the least. It is even more shocking that the office order has employed strong words, instilling fear and threatening disciplinary action on students and faculty for associating with PSF and encouraging them to report being approached by PSF members. This extreme language used attempts to ostracise and target student members of PSF and vilify the group without any justification and without following any due process,” reads the letter.
Terming the ban a “dangerous precedent”, the student body points out that under the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines, students are not just allowed but encouraged to form associations and unions. It underscored that the UGC also prohibits institutes from imposing restrictions on them when conducting seminars, lectures, and debates.
“Since none of the student organisations at TISS is recognised officially by TISS in the first place, such banning or attempt to do so is by itself an anomaly. We see the ban as an unprecedented move marking the start of a dangerous practice at TISS and all other public funded institutes under the UGC,” reads the letter.
