Teachers’ organisations have condemned the termination of a faculty member by South Asian University (SAU) as “vindictive” and demanded withdrawal of the decision.

The SAU had terminated the services of Snehashish Bhattacharya, associate professor of economics, for opposing the decision to call cops to the campus during a student protest in October 2022. Bhattacharya and four other faculty members had criticised the expulsion of a few students for demanding a hike in stipend. While three teachers apologised, Bhattacharya did not.

The Federation of Central Universities Teachers’ Associations (FEDCUTA) and Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) said the faculty members had only discharged their duties as teachers. “They stood for the university being a democratic space where dialogue and discussion, and the participation of all stakeholders in the institution’s governance, rather than the heavy hand of authority, should prevail,” the FEDCUTA said.

The JNUTA said collective resistance of teachers to the growing trend of despotism in the functioning of universities would beat back the process.