TISS professor sparks controversy with social media post

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A social media post by a senior professor of The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has sparked a major controversy. The post, which demands government intervention to survive in the current acute state of financial and other crises, also alluded to a meeting of deans in which the management supposedly declared it would abandon many of its new and innovative programmes, leaving hundreds of students and 50 per cent of its faculty in the lurch.

The premier social sciences institute city has been in the news for many negative reasons recently. But, the newest development, which is putting the institute's very existence in question, has raised eyebrows.

The post by Prof. T Jayaraman starts states 'Forget the border, TISS management just bombed its own courses, students and faculty! The earlier post said, "In the meeting with dean and others , the director has announced that the sustainability of all these programmes was not the management's responsibility and that those who started these should have thought of it. In effect, it is now the responsibility of the teachers of these programmes to find the funds for their salaries and the students who await these efforts with bated breath...' It was later deleted. In a subsequent post the professor, stated, "The earlier post is deleted.

I have been notified that it is in violation of the conduct rules of my employment." When contacted Dr Shalini Bharat, director, TISS, denied the claims, saying, "There is no such decision taken. Especially, when we have already started admissions for the next academic session. The person should be asked why such concerns are raised on social media and not officially. We are taking serious cognisance of it."

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