Four teachers of North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) Tura campus have written a letter to the Chair of the university’s Academic Council to express their frustration after apparently being left out of a council meeting last week.
In the letter, copies of which were sent to the Vice-Chancellor, Pro Vice-Chancellor and the NEHU Teachers’ Association president, the four teachers said that the manner in which the meeting, via video conference, was notified was “unprecedented and extremely irregular”.
Only 10 minutes prior notice for the meeting was given through WhatsApp, the signatories to the letter said, with a follow-up message later asking them to join the meeting but without providing the link to the virtual meeting.
“While some of the faculty received links after the Academic Council meeting started, via email, the HoDs (Heads of Department) of English, Garo and Education of Tura campus did not receive any intimation on the link,” they added.
Although this could have easily been an innocent oversight, the problems that have bedeviled NEHU of late could also suggest that it was something more, a view that the signatories appear to take.
“We consider this anomaly absolutely unacceptable and high-handed and would like to question whether Tura campus counts as a vital component of NEHU or not,” the letter stated.
“Prior notice and the agenda of a statutory body meeting must be circulated within a reasonable timeframe so that the faculty can attend. This is a matter that has to be taken serious note of and the reasons for the omission ascertained and rectified so that such an appalling misadventure does not recur in future,” the teachers added.
