NEW DELHI: Over 1,500 teaching and non-teaching staff of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), along with the Vice-Chancellor of JMI, Prof. Mazhar Asif and Registrar of JMI, Prof. Md. Mahtab Alam Rizvi, convened a meeting on Saturday at the university’s Ansari Auditorium lawns to discuss the way forward.
The meeting followed four rounds of talks and an appeal issued by the committee last night urging the students to call off their protests.
The meeting comes in a significant development amid week-long efforts by a seven-member high-level committee of university professors, constituted on October 18, to mediate with students protesting for elections to the Jamia Millia Islamia Students’ Union (JMISU).
Expressing dismay over incidents of vandalism and the defacement of campus walls with highly objectionable slogans, JMI faculty members and staff asserted that such actions undermined the academic atmosphere and the dignity of an institution with a distinguished 106-year legacy, as per the release.
The gathering unanimously adopted two resolutions: First, the employees resolved to urge the protesters to vacate the protest site and call off their agitation to restore peace and normalcy on campus, particularly at the Ghalib statue lawns, which had been illegally occupied by the protesting students despite Gate No. 18 being the designated protest site at JMI, it added.
Second, faculty and staff resolved to repaint the defaced walls and cover slogans they described as highly condemnable and detrimental to the nation’s integrity, security and sovereignty.
They warned that such slogans could cause lasting and irreversible damage to JMI’s reputation and standing.
They emphasised that the reputation of a historic institution must not be jeopardised by the actions of a handful of individuals, particularly when the consequences could affect the wider university community. As key stakeholders who have devoted decades of service to JMI, teachers said they could not allow the university to be held to ransom. (ANI)
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