Harvard's first African-American president, and its broader implications for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in academia - Concerns– What about in India?
On January 2, when Harvard University’s first African-American President, Claudine Gay, stepped down from her post.
The high-decibel euphoria from the conservative cabal in the United States was along expected lines.
Christopher Rufo claimed that it was they who had got her out.
In his verbal onslaught, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy said what Ms. Gay had published in her whole career was what a distinguished
American academic published in just a few years.
Vivek, attributed the policy of affirmative action as the reason for scholars like her to ascend to the coveted position.
Her reluctance to immediately condemn the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and her subsequent confession before a Congressional committee caused controversy, eventually leading to her resignation.
There was also the issue of alleged plagiarism.
The rise of right-wing populism across the globe entails solid structural change especially in academia.
In their epistemic fabric, an academician’s political persuasion or ideological commitment is no longer an individual’s sovereign choice but ought to be subservient to their. edict since their illiberal nationalism is equated with virulent patriotis.
Hence, disputing or critiquing right-wing populism may spell deeper trouble for academics.
It has no doubt emboldened the conservative political class here in India.
The right-wing politics in the U.S. has tacit endorsement from many scholars, whereas, here, the political right is deeply communal and deplorably divisive.
Hence their didactic narratives on polity and society are either a harangue or quite pedestrian.
Our academia have largely remained impervious to the nefarious designs of majoritarian communalists as the freedom struggle, with its solid secular orientation, shaped the post-colonial academic milieu.
The founding fathers of our republic pledged to establish the country as a nation of/for all.
Their tenacious commitment to have a level-playing ground for all sections resulted in the introduction of a reservation policy and several welfare measures.
Our academic atmosphere since the formation of the republic is largely shaped by this spirit of DEI.
Celebrating private academic institutions and foreign university campuses is actually disguised contempt for the spirit of DEI.
The desperation of social conservatives to establish caste-class exclusivism in academic campuses will see fruition if right-wing populism remains at the helm.
The resistance to this onslaught must be more prudent.
If our adherence to political correctness crosses a threshold level, the liberal fabric would be pummelled by the social oligarchs.
Any critical scrutiny or academic engagement per se of leaders’ scholarly contributions is not an insult to people who adulate them.
Ideological commitment is different from academic pursuits as the commitment to unravelling the truth alone remains the nucleus of the latter’s mandate.
When our ability to falsify our own propositions remains unassailable, the real cognitive contribution begins in academia.
If replicating dogmatic narcissism is perceived as an intellectual enterprise, the day is not far off when our public academic institutions will collapse.
More than the inflated strength of right-wing populism, unscrupulous political correctness would be singularly responsible for the denouement of our public academic institutions.
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