We, the undersigned at Syracuse University, Colgate University, and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, are in solidarity with our comrades at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), India against the ongoing anti-democratic actions by the Indian state. We demand an immediate end to the police action against students on campus, and withdrawal of all charges against Kanhaiya Kumar, President of the JNU Students’ Union. We further demand that the Central Government put an immediate end to its prejudiced persecution of student activists on campuses across the country.
We strongly believe that the charge of sedition against Kanhaiya Kumar follows spurious claims. This arrest is an excuse for the state to root out dissenting voices on JNU campus, a move towards converting educational institutions like JNU into an arm of the authoritarian state. Attempts of a similar nature have been witnessed recently at other Indian educational institutions such as Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Hyderabad University. The growing threat to academic freedom posed by the current political climate is transnational, and extends beyond India to other parts of the world – it is a threat we face here in the United States, too.
For any word or action to qualify as being “seditious” under Indian law, it has to directly issue a call to violence. This was not the nature of the protest held by a group of JNU students against the judiciary’s decision regarding Afzal Guru, who was convicted of an attack on the Indian parliament. The peaceful protest held on February 9 on campus was not unlike other protests convened at the university over the last several decades. Dissent is an essential part of a healthy democracy. We therefore strongly condemn the Indian government’s response to the students’ protests and demand that the state refrain from authoritarian behaviour. In this spirit, we urge the vice chancellor of JNU to protect members of the university community and safeguard their democratic rights.
- Natasha S.K., Social Science, Syracuse University
- Taveeshi Singh, Social Science, Syracuse University
- Mitul Baruah, Geography, Syracuse University
- Sean Wang, Geography, Syracuse University
- Miguel Contreras, Geography, Syracuse University
- Manuela Ruiz Reyes, Geography, Syracuse University
- Carolina Arango-Vargas, Anthropology, Syracuse University
- Tina Catania, Geography, Syracuse University
- Linh Khanh Nguyen, Anthropology, Syracuse University
- Jon Erickson, Geography, Syracuse University
- Tom Perreault, Geography, Syracuse University
- Jessie Speer, Geography, Syracuse University
- Sravani Biswas, History, Syracuse University
- Don Mitchell, Geography, Syracuse University
- Tod Rutherford, Geography, Syracuse University
- Jacquelyn MicieliVoutsinas, Geography, Syracuse University
- Sturdy Knight, Information Studies, Syracuse University
- Jenna Sikka, Sociology, Syracuse University
- Jaisang Sun, Social Science, Syracuse University
- Madhura Lohokare, Anthropology, Syracuse University
- Brian Dobreski, Information Studies, Syracuse University
- Sujata Bajracharya, Religion, Syracuse University
- Chandra TalpadeMohanty, Women’s and Gender Studies, Syracuse University
- Alisa Weinstein, Anthropology, Syracuse University
- Li Chen, Mass Communications, Syracuse University
- Taapsi Ramchandani, Anthropology, Syracuse University
- Laura Jaffee, Cultural Foundations of Education, Syracuse University
- Tula Goenka, Television-Radio-Film, Syracuse University
- Romita Ray, Art and Music Histories, Syracuse University
- Dorothy Kou, Sociology, Syracuse University
- Kriangsak Terrakowitkajom, Geography, Syracuse University
- Susan S. Wadley, Anthropology, Syracuse University
- Emily Mitchell-Eaton, Geography, Syracuse University
- Scarlett Rebman, History, Syracuse University
- Matt Huber, Geography, Syracuse University
- Brian Hennigan, Geography, Syracuse University
- Parvathy Binoy, Geography, Syracuse University
- Liz Mount, Sociology, Syracuse University
- Himika Bhattacharya, Women’s & Gender Studies, Syracuse University
- John Western, Geography, Syracuse University
- Vani Kannan, Composition and Cultural Rhetoric, Syracuse University
- Ani Maitra, Film and Media Studies, Colgate University
- Diane Swords, Cultural Foundations of Education, Syracuse University
- Alejandro Camargo, Geography, Syracuse University
- Cecilia Van Hollen, Anthropology, Syracuse University
- Alexandra Jebbia, Documentary Film & History, Syracuse University
- David Gustavsen, English, Syracuse University
- Michael Gill, Cultural Foundations of Education, Syracuse University
- Tiago Teixeira, Geography, Syracuse University
- Nimanthi Rajasingham, English, Colgate University
- Kimberly E. Powell, Women’s & Gender Studies, Syracuse University
- Sharon Moran, Environmental Studies, SUNY-ESF
- Adam Fix, Environmental Studies, SUNY-ESF
- Alvaro A. Salas, Public Administration, Syracuse University
- Diane R. Wiener, Division of Student Affairs – Disability Cultural Center, Syracuse University
- Brett Keegan, Composition and Cultural Rhetoric, Syracuse University
- Jyoti G. Balachandran, History, Colgate University
- Barbara L. Regenspan, Educational Studies, Colgate University
- Deborah J. Knuth Klenck, English, Colgate University
- Suzanne B. Spring, Writing & Rhetoric, Colgate University
- Cristina Serna, Women’s Studies, Colgate University
- Joel Bordeaux, Religion, Colgate University
- Mark Stern, Educational Studies, Colgate University
- Susan Thomson, Peace and Conflict Studies, Colgate University
- Kapil Mandrekar, Environmental and Forest Biology, SUNY-ESF.
- Jackie Orr, Sociology, Syracuse University.