Professors take to the streets

Hyderabad: Over 300 professors of the Osmania University staged a massive dharna on Thursday in front of the Administrative Building in the campus demanding protection for them and the varsity’s properties from unruly students.
The teachers threatened that they would not act as guides for the newly-selected PhD students till the two journalism profess-ors, Mr Karnam Naren-der and Mr Srinath Red-dy, who had been attack-ed and abused by students and who are currently on leave, were provided with adequate security so that they could resume work.
The agitating teachers also demanded stringent action against the students who manhandled and abused the professors over the PhD admission issue recently.
The varsity, which had been closed for the last two days due to a bandh called by students dema-nding revision of the PhD selection list, was closed for a third day on Thursd-ay with professors boyco-tting their duties and sitting on a day-long dharna.
They demanded that the government should immediately intervene in the issue to instil confidence among teachers.
OU teachers  want violence checked:
Staging a dharna on Thursday, over 300 professors of Osmania University said that the administration had failed to control unruly students who were attacking professors and ransacking furniture and other varsity property on the campus.
The campus has been in turmoil since last week, when the varsity started releasing the Ph.D lists department-wise. Some students attacked professors, abused them, locked up departments and destroyed furniture alleging irregularities in the selection process and demanded revision of the lists.
“We are not against students. Only a handful of students are creating trouble. Despite our repeated requests to the vice-chancellor to initiate action against these trouble-makers, he has failed to act so far. These students are going on a rampage and terrifying teachers. Mr Narender and Mr Srinath Reddy, who were attacked by the students, are still on leave and are not attending duties fearing more attacks. This shows there is no safety for teachers on the campus. It is not possible for teachers to discharge duties in these conditions. The government should immediately intervene and set right things since the VC has failed to act,” said Prof. Battu Satyanarayana, president, Osmania University Teachers’ Association.
The teachers have also decided to petition the Governor and Chancellor of Universities, Mr E.S.L. Narasimhan, over the failure of the university administration in controlling unruly students.