Lecturer bribing a rowdy-sheeter to get VC’s post is a University’s shame
This seems absurd. A lecturer pays a bribe to get the top post of a university, an institution responsible for shaping our society. And who does he bribe? A rowdy-sheeter who is involved in several criminal cases. The recent incident in which the lecturer of a science department paid a bribe of Rs 17 lakh to rowdy sheeter Prasad Attavar to occupy the top post in his university has come under the scanner and is being discussed extensively. The accused has already been arrested but people are confused about who should be condemned. A rowdy sheeter’s job is to accept bribes and extort money from the gullible. As is his wont, he cheated this lecturer as well.
More than this, the most alarming aspect is the fact that a lecturer who has to mould the future citizens and become a role model attempted to occupy the top-most post in a university by bribing a rowdy-sheeter. This rowdy-sheeter does not only have a criminal background but is also notorious for disturbing the peace and harmony in the name of religion. The fact that a lecturer has such criminals as his friends is itself questionable but society should be more concerned that this lecturer tried to purchase the vice-chancellor’s post. Renowned thinker Dr. Nagaraj writes: “The way politicians view officials with suspicion, we need to look at teachers also with suspicion.” Society does not suspect lecturers the way it suspects politicians, officials, or journalists.
Of late, doctors are also facing criticism and are being attacked by the public. But society still regards teachers with a lot of respect and believes that they will take society forward in the right direction. But now the situation has changed. Like politicians, officials, seers, lecturers are also becoming dangerous. Society seems to have adopted a lenient stand towards lecturers who don’t appear dangerous unlike politicians or police officials who wield unbridled power. But today, lecturers and teachers are successfully sowing seeds of intolerance and divisiveness among students in colleges and schools. Students who are on the threshold of entering public life with an open mind are being prepared to imbibe the seeds of hatred sown by politicians. Sangha Parivar and RSS leaders are entering schools and are teaching small children hatred in the name of patriotism and teachers are silently supporting them. The number of teachers and lecturers who are teaching RSS’s caste politics instead of teaching children secular values is increasing.
Many a time, lecturers are mere puppets who inevitably agree with everything politicians say fearing harassment, transfers, and other everyday struggles. The recent incident in Kokkada is an excellent example. A headmaster had to face the ire of a Sangh Parivar leader who attacked him for sending children for mid-day meals at the inauguration of a local mosque. In an audio clip that went viral, the headmaster was heard apologizing before the Sangh Parivar leader and defending the acts of Sangh Parivar. This reveals how criminals along with the education department are trying to mislead the society. We are living in a society in which teachers who have to guide and correct the rotten apples in society are in fact agreeing with them and tendering apologies. And politicians are directly responsible for this. Such criminals have now become a bridge between politicians and society.
During elections, party workers with criminal antecedents are sought to create fear, indulge in arson, and mar the peace and harmony of society. Post elections, politicians have to give in to the demand of these elements. Usually, police and teachers use these mediators as a bridge with politicians for their transfers and promotions. In the same vein, the common man fears that if they are antagonised, they would be incurring the displeasure of politicians as well.
The reason why the Ramsene leader was bribed for the vice-chancellor’s post is that he was seen or identified with several politicians. Offering bribe to obtain a lucrative posting is a criminal act. Depending on a criminal to obtain a top-post in a university is a shame on the values for which a university stands for. The incident also shows the depths to which universities have sunk. If such criminals control educational institutions, what can the country expect of students who learn at these institutions? If lecturers go after criminals and politicians, what then will be the situation of students? The arrested criminal should be investigated about how many more people he has cheated. Universities must be made free of criminal connection and politics, and the dignity of these hallow portals of education upheld.
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Judge issues temporary injunction against Trump administration cancellation of humanities grants
Washington (AP): A district court judge in New York issued a preliminary injunction Friday night stopping the mass cancellation of National Endowment for the Humanities grants to members of the Authors Guild on the grounds that their First Amendment rights were violated.
Judge Colleen McMahon of the US District Court in the Southern District of New York stayed the mass cancellations of grants previously awarded to guild members and ordered that any funds associated with the grants not be reobligated until a trial on the merits of the case is held.
In reaching her decision, the judge said the “defendants terminated the grants based on the recipients' perceived viewpoint, in an effort to drive such views out of the marketplace of ideas. This is most evident by the citation in the Termination Notices to executive orders purporting to combat Radical Indoctrination' and Radical … DEI Programs,' and to further Biological Truth.'”
One of the grants was to a professor writing a book on the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s and 1980s. On a spreadsheet entitled “Copy of NEH Active Grants,” the government flagged the work as being connected to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, McMahon wrote.
The judge said several other history projects on the spreadsheet were also canceled in part because of their connection to DEI-related subjects.
“Far be it from this Court to deny the right of the Administration to focus NEH priorities on American history and exceptionalism as the year of our semiquincentennial approaches,” McMahon said. “Such refocusing is ordinarily a matter of agency discretion. But agency discretion does not include discretion to violate the First Amendment. Nor does not give the Government the right to edit history.“
McMahon said some of the grantees lost grants simply because they had received them during the Biden administration.
The Guild filed a class action lawsuit in May against the NEH and the Department of Government Efficiency for terminating grants that had already been appropriated by Congress.
The humanities groups' lawsuit said DOGE brought the core work of the humanities councils “to a screeching halt” this spring when it terminated its grant program.
The lawsuit was among several filed by humanities groups and historical, research and library associations to try to stop funding cuts and the dissolution of federal agencies and organizations.
McMahon noted her injunction is narrowly tailored “to maintain the status quo until we can decide whether Plaintiffs are entitled to ultimate relief. It does nothing more.”
The judge denied a temporary injunction request from the American Council of Learned Societies, as well as several of their claims in the lawsuit. Their case included the American Historical Association and the Modern Language Association.
