We the undersigned, are alumni of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

We are appalled at the complete lack of sensitivity shown by the JNU administration and concerned government officials to the issues raised by the students on the recent proposal of irrational 999% hike in their fee structure. We also strongly condemn the inappropriate use of brute force by the police officials towards the peaceful protest of university students when they were demanding a roll back of this policy to keep higher education accessible for all, and to oppose imposing of regressive restrictions on the clothing and movement of students in the university.

Not just insensitive, the state has also used condemnable tactics to deal with the legitimate demands of the protesting students. Instead of using questionable means to stop students from peacefully protesting and approaching the policymakers, the government should have facilitated a dialogue with the students and paid heed to their demands. We completely condemn the following actions taken by the police and state officials:

1. Changing the venue of the Executive Council meeting at the last minute without informing all Executive Council Members, averting an amicable resolution to this problem.
2. Announcing some cosmetic changes in the fee structure and terming it “roll back”, without actually addressing the concerns of the students.
3. Questionable deployment of police and CRPF forces to disrupt the protest and use of violent methods such as lathi charge on students including protesting peacefully – switching off street lights before lathi charge.

We must not forget that in the past few years, students in many universities across the country have protested against fee hikes, unjustified restrictions and increased surveillance by the university administration. This protest, this fight is not just of one university, but is the fight to save the few islands of accessible, good education from the rampant privatisation model of education that is becoming the norm. Access to quality education should be treated as a universal right and any policy which deprives citizens from this basic right is an assault on our democracy. We, as an alumni of an institution that has upheld the notion of bringing in more inclusive access to rights and opportunities for all including the most backward and most oppressed, acknowledge this as an opportunity and appeal to citizens all over to unite and unanimously support the students from JNU and other universities who are fighting to ensure that government roll back these hefty hike in fees and use state funds to provide subsidized and accessible education for all.

Signed