An invitation to the new administration of Visva-Bharati University

Monday, 1 August, 2011

(This is a translation of the original, composed in Bengali on the 30th of July 2011. The translation has been made on request from Mr Tan Lee and Ms Leena Chatterjee of Delta, BC, Canada)

My unfinished sketch of Singha Sadan

We hear that the last Vice Chancellor has left the University on completion of his contractual term. Is the time ripe now for us to join hands with the new administration towards some constructive work towards its regeneration? We have further heard that the task of selecting the new vice chancellor has moved to an advanced stage, that the selection committee has whittled the list down to a few and forward its recommendations to the office of the Prime Minister last Saturday. Media is rife with speculative snippets. Three names are being aired, Sri Udaya Narayan Singh, Ms Piyali Palit and Ms Surabhi Bannerjee.

Till the new vice chancellor is appointed, the responsibility of running the University rests with Dr. Udaya Narayan Singh. I was mulling over the ideas of if the new ambience might be conducive for us to exchange views and join hands with the University administration in some good work.

I do not know Ms Bannerjee, but know the other two persons. We believe both are good persons and would be good for the University. The question now is - those of us that have been watching Santiniketan from afar, and believe in the relevance and timelessness of Rabindranath’s efforts towards building an ideal educational environment, those of us who were willing to expend effort and labor within our means to help sustain the institution, those of us who might have offered to help only to get their fingers burnt and have since withdrawn, will the new administration be willing to re-engage with them and be interested to hear their views ?

My guess is - the new administration will. Confucius has already said long ago, that all things must and will change. That is about the only unchanging theory and fact in this world. Besides, Rabindranath has gone one up on that - mentioning that, whether change comes of not, and whether others agree with you or not, you must follow your inner compass and walk alone if need be.

Anyhow, if we invite the new administration for a meeting, and if it agrees, then how do we proceed further from there ?

I am jotting here whatever comes to mind first. This list does not claim to be the best or the final one, but simply jotting down what came to the mind of one person, myself, to follow up on my thoughts. I look forward to correcting and completing it with others input and assistance.

1. First task might be to think through what should be the broad agenda for the initial kick off meeting. Perhaps we should prepare a very brief list of what our wish and expectations are, and invite the University to likewise let us know what it wishes from us.
2. Who should join the meeting from our end? This is an important task. For example, Alumni association should represent the alumni, per UGC rules. Also, Asramik Sangha should represent the Asramiks, per system put in place by Tagore himself. There is reason to believe that it is time these two be merged, but that is not likely to happen in a day. So, perhaps both bodies should be present. Besides, there may be ex-students and well wishers outside of the leaders of these bodies that the University wishes to listen to as well. So there might be need for independents to join in as well.
3. How many should be in the meeting? If there are too many, it generates merely noise and nothing much more. Besides, I have had the opportunity to be present in a few meetings with regard to the University and ex-students. My feeling is that the ability of the ex-student body in transforming decisions from a meeting into real work on the ground is rather poor. We like to talk, but lack vision or ability, and are mostly capable of implementing anything. So, it is possible that the team will be top heavy right from the start, and will run aground from the get go. In fact, this has been the most consistent element in our history, when it comes to organizing ability of ourselves, the ex-students.
4. To maintain continuity, it may be worthwhile to chalk out a time table for annual or bi-annual meetings.
5. Before we can offer advise to the University, it may be worthwhile to first learn the facts from the ground up that the University is obliged to deal with on a day to day basis, for example what are the issues in dealing with UGC and the Government, or with the Teachers association, workers union, student association etc. Only when we learn enough can our advise be of any value or relevance. Having said that, we still could not avoid jotting down some of the negative issues of the University as perceived from outside, and I have takent he liberty to pass my comment here. These may be removed or amended through more input from others.
6. Rural reconstruction is not just the area of involvement for Sriniketan. It is a collective responsibility of the entire University. One of the key reason for existence of this University is to improve the stock of the villages, and remove the economic imbalance between the urban and the rural sphere. It may do more in raising consciousness in universalism, but it may not do less.
7. There are reports of a disconnect between departments. Cultural functions organized by one does not benefit from contribution of other departments in singing, dancing, playing of musical instruments etc. This has to be corrected. All efforts will have the spirit of joint efforts with participation of the entire University, including the ex-students where applicable.
8. Teachers and workers of the University cannot say their duty is only to take class and go home. If they do not feel it in their duty to attend morning prayers to evening sports grounds to Sahitya Sabha or engage in rural reconstruction tasks, then such teachers are to be deemed unsuitable for serving in Visva-Bharati. If students say their interest is only to study their specific subjects and nothing else, then such students are also to be deemed not suitable for education in Visva-Bharati.
9. The university is not here to be a fall back job offering factory for children of the workers and teachers of the University. The atmosphere has to be changed such that students from outside, including abroad, are eager to come and enroll, and be happy and grateful to be here. If there are built in resistance and roadblocks - bold actions will be needed to have such obstacles removed
10. The University will need to be greatly downsized, if necessary by closing down or trimming unproductive, wasteful departments.
11. The University will not be used as breeding ground for politics. Nepotism needs to be stopped.
12. Many of us have spent a lot of time passing judgment on others. Time has come to judge ourselves in self assessment. Let the administration judge itself and prepare a list of its short comings. Let the teachers do that about themselves. Let the workers and the students likewise do the same. Let us, the ex-students make a list of our own failings. My guess is that the list for the ex-students would be the longest, but we need to check that. Once we acknowledge our own failings and endeavor to correct them, we can perhaps earn the right to advise others on their failings.
13. It has been reported that the administration moves en-mass to Kolkata for its meetings, instead of conducting them in Santiniketan. We need to ask why this is so. Perhaps it is time for the people to re-learn frugality and fiscal discipline. University should refrain from wastage of funds and resources. If a chance of venue is desired for their internal meetings on occasion, then considerations may be given to Sriniketan, Binoy Bhavan, Surul, Taltore, Bandhgora, Shyambati, Sien-danga and similar nearby locations. Before the meeting, the attendees may engage in conducting a tour of the village and see first hand on the condition of the people there and how effective the Universities efforts has been towards addressing their issues. Such practices are to be encouraged.
14. Annual audit of the University will use the trend of self sufficiency and socio-economic improvement of the villages around Santiniketan as one of its yardsticks for measuring Visva-Bharati’s ability to fulfill its task. The audit guideline may therefore have to be redesigned too.
15. It may well be that the University will not be allowed to follow some of these guidelines even if the people wish to do so, because of restrictions imposed on it by UGC or the Govt of India, stemming from a standardization of rules for Governing of Universities. If such is the case, the University along with the Ex-students, well wishers and the civic body will have to campaign and lobby for the Government to change its tules to recognize the uniqueness of Visva-Bharati University. The local member of parliament and legislative assembly may have to be met with and lobbied. All these are somewhere down the line, and only after the University and the well wishers have done their own part to the fullest. We cannot, or should not, demand sops from the Government without meeting them half way.

Instead of writing more, perhaps this list could be forwarded to Dr. Udaya Narayan Singh and Dr. Piyali Palit and others who are in the list for the Vice Chancellors post. Any thoughts on that?

I did ask a few during a global conference call two days ago, for people to consider jotting down their own thoughts and passing on, so the above list, can be amended, corrected and made more acceptable, before moving on.

I look forward to your comments. Please consider clicking the link below and leave your comments. 

I hope Leena di will be satisfied with this hurried translation.

Santanu Mitra