We, the undersigned, condemn the undemocratic and unconstitutional actions of the BJP-ABVP-Delhi Police on the JNU campus.

We demand an immediate end to all police presence on campus, the withdrawal of all criminal charges against JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, activist Umar Khalid, and other students. We appeal to all citizens to protest the public harassment and intimidation of students from JNU. We also seek an enquiry into the public lawlessness of vigilante lawyers and the inaction of the Delhi Police whose responsibility it was to protect scholars, students, and media persons at the Patiala House court complex. We express grave concern about the targeting of JNU students both inside and outside the campus, and we find condemnable the vilification of students by sections of the news media.

We reassert the right of every citizen of India to dissent, a right guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. The events at JNU are only the latest incident in a continuum of governmental overreach in matters of academic work and institutional autonomy. These include the present Government’s actions at FTII, and the atmosphere of threat and intimidation leading to the tragic death of Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad Central University.

We hope the unfortunate events we have witnessed over the past several days will compel the Vice Chancellor of JNU and the Government to undo this manufactured crisis, and to fundamentally reassess their position on the questions of free speech, both within and outside academic institutions.

Elaine Ayers, History, PhD Student

Ben Baer, Comparative Literature, Faculty

Daniel Barish, History, PhD Student

Megan Baumhammer, History of Science, PhD Student

Nicole Berger, Anthropology, PhD Student

Ritwik Bhattacharyya, Comparative Literature, PhD Student

Lorenzo Bondioli, History, PhD Student

Edna Bonhomme, History of Science, PhD Student

John Borneman, Anthropology, Faculty

William Brown, History, PhD Student

Alexander Bruski, History, PhD Student

Zoë Rose Buonaiuto, History, PhD Student

Olivier Burtin, History, PhD Student

Eduardo Cadava, English, Faculty

David Cannadine, History, Faculty

Katlyn Carter, History, PhD Student

James Casey, History, PhD Student

Stephen Chao, Undergraduate Student

Sria Chatterjee, Art & Archaeology, PhD Student

Zahid Chaudhary, English, Faculty

Azza Cohen, History, Undergraduate Student

Linda Colley, History, Faculty

Hollis Dvorkin, History, PhD Student

Yaacob Dweck, History, Faculty

Andrew Edwards, History, PhD Student

Fauzia Farooqui, Program in South Asian Studies, Faculty

Sean Fraga, History, PhD Student

Maria-Magdalena Fuchs, Religion, PhD Student

Curt Gambetta, Architecture, PhD Student

Joshua Garrett-Davis, History, PhD Student

Joppan George, History, PhD Student

Saumyashree Ghosh, History, PhD Student

Michael Glass, History, PhD Student

Jonathan C. Gold, Religion, Faculty

Michael D. Gordin, History, Faculty

Molly Greene, History, Faculty

Onur Günay, Anthropology, PhD Student

Jeffrey S. Hammer, Woodrow Wilson School, Faculty

Laraib Ilyas, Undergraduate Student

Saarah Jappie, History, PhD Student

Kalyani Monteiro Jayasankar, Sociology, PhD Student

Laavanya Kathiravelu, Sociology, Faculty

Emily Kern, History of Science, PhD Student

Atul Kohli, Woodrow Wilson School, Faculty

Rob Konkel, History, PhD Student

Jane Manners, History, PhD Student

Martin Marimon, History, PhD Student

Nikhil Menon, History, PhD Student

Zia Mian, Woodrow Wilson School, Faculty

Mayank Misra, Woodrow Wilson School, PhD Student

David Moak, History, PhD Student

Lee Mordechai, History, PhD Student

Ariana Myers, History, PhD Student

Iwa Nawrocki, History, PhD Student

Philip Nord, History, Faculty

Patrick Luiz Sullivan De Oliveira, History, PhD Student

Gyan Prakash, History, Faculty

Amna Qayyum, History, PhD Student

V. Ramana, Program on Science and Global Security, Faculty

Kalyani Ramnath, History, PhD Student

Sucharita Ray, History, PhD Student

Felix Rietmann, History, PhD Student

David Robertson, History, PhD Student

Morgan Robinson, History, PhD Student

Devika Shankar, History, PhD Student

Richard Spiegel, History, PhD Student

Joel Suarez, History, PhD Student

Tom Tölle, History, PhD Student

Mathura Umachandran, Classics, PhD Student

Sean Vanatta, History, PhD Student

Paula Vedoveli, History, PhD Student

Julian Weideman, History, PhD Student

David Weil, Near Eastern Studies, PhD Student

Christina Welsch, History, PhD Student

William Whitham, History, PhD Student

Kimberley Worthington, History, PhD Student

Jin Hee Yoo, History, PhD Student

Adrian M. Young, History of Science, PhD Student

Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Near Eastern Studies, Faculty.

Robert Zeinstra, History, PhD Student