Calcutta, Aug. 24: The Presidency University vice-chancellor's justification for ingratiating herself with the chief minister was "tasteless", several academics said today while condemning in no uncertain terms the "abhorrent" nature of the continuing protests by students.

Vice-chancellor Anuradha Lohia had written in The Telegraph in Monday's edition: "How will the university's New Town campus (estimated to cost Rs 350 crore) be built without government support? How will we celebrate our 200th year without funding support from the government? Private donors will never give this kind of money.... I see nothing wrong in reaching out to the state if it is in the interests of the university."

Hours after the article appeared, a former vice-chancellor said: "The chief minister had publicly announced that funds wouldn't be a constraint for Presidency. Yet, she did little in four years. Why should the vice-chancellor be so grateful to the chief minister just because she merely released funds that were long due?"

Barring two professors, all the academics who spoke to this newspaper requested anonymity because of their association with Presidency.

Mamata's visit to the varsity on Friday - with a ceremonial gate welcoming her and an eye-catching bow by the vice-chancellor - had touched off the storm that has been brewing for some time.

The academics pointed out that Lohia herself had created an impression that she wanted to be seen aligned with the chief minister. The vice-chancellor was part of the chief minister's recent London trip and had attended an administrative meeting conducted by Mamata in Burdwan.

"The VC posted pictures of the London trip on the Presidency website. In some of the pictures, the VC wasn't there at all but only the CM and her acolytes. Why would you do that?" asked the former vice-chancellor.

"I have no doubt she shouldn't have gone to Burdwan, even if other academics were attending the meeting," said another professor.

The director of IIEST, Shibpur, and the Burdwan University vice-chancellor were also at the administrative meeting but the professor suggested that a Presidency VC was expected to point out to the government that academic autonomy and such events do not mix.

The professor said that dependence on state funds up to an extent, or till basic infrastructure was built, was often a necessity - as Lohia had pointed out. But the manner in which Lohia went out of her way to ensure what should have been granted without ceremony drew scorn.

"Why should Presidency University erect a ceremonial gate to welcome the chief minister?" asked a professor. "I found it tasteless. Couldn't it be done more tastefully?"

Lohia stooped almost at a right angle while receiving what many thought were cheques from the state government - they were actually papers with written promises, some said - and then waved the sheaf of papers over her head in an apparent show of triumph.

The Presidency mentors' group today condemned the "hooliganism and vandalism" by "a handful of students and outside agitators". The group ended its statement by reaffirming "its commitment to help the university in its quest for academic excellence based on the principle of university autonomy".

Autonomy is a holy grail that has rarely been treated so.

Education minister and Trinamul leader Partha Chatterjee, who has no role in the functioning of the autonomous institution, said today: "The state government is with Anuradha Lohia. She is running the university well. She will remain in the post. The government is keeping a close watch on what is going on there."

Chatterjee's usual defence in interfering in such matters is that the state has a right to do so when it funds the institutions - a claim that strikes at the root of the autonomous varsity system.

But Lohia's "over-the-top" response to the chief minister strengthens the lame logic that politicians like Chatterjee have been citing, a professor said. "Why should you knowtow before someone who is discharging the responsibility of a chief funds disburser?" the academic said.

Prasanta Ray, former head of sociology at Presidency College, sees no wrong in either what Mamata or Lohia did.

"It's a question of how you read the gesture. Those running the state administration had publicly promised soon after coming to power that there won't be any funds constraint for Presidency. When an opportunity landed, the state administration wanted to flaunt that they were providing a substantial amount for Presidency. This was done with an eye to reach out to the urban middle class, which bothers about iconic institutions like Presidency, ahead of the ensuing Assembly elections," he said.

Few politicians could withstand such temptation. Then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had also sought to reach out to the same urban middle class by announcing that the erstwhile Presidency College would be converted into a university ahead of the 2011 Assembly elections.

However, one academic also pointed out that Bhattacharjee had done only lip service for his alma mater. "Mamata actually ensured Presidency got more than the others," the academic said.

But a senior professor with a long association with Presidency said: "The chief minister should have been briefed and she should have desisted from announcing the amount she was going to offer to the cash-strapped university."

The chief minister could have spoken about her vision for Presidency, he added, because her personal initiative had promised to pull back the institution from "catastrophic decline".

"The amount of money could have been announced later at an administrative level," the professor said.

Somak Raychaudhury, the physics head and dean of science who left Presidency recently for a more "prestigious institute", said: "There is a communication gap between the students and the university administration on certain issues."

He added: "But the very ugliness of the protest has undermined those issues."

Another professor said: "Did VC Lohia think that she could bring in so much funds because she has managed to strike a rapport with the chief minister over the past two months and, therefore, got carried away when Rs 41.78 crore was handed over?

"Files were moving between the higher education and finance departments over the past six months to clear funds for Presidency. The chief minister was eyeing an announcement around this time to silence critics who said she had done nothing for Presidency over the past four years despite promises. VC Lohia did not realise this and got carried away."