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