In centenary year, Visva-Bharati stays in news for wrong reasons

In the latest since the incumbent V-C took charge in 2018, faculty member files FIR against him for humiliating teachers

For the Rabindranath Tagore-founded Visva-Bharati, 2021 was meant to be a year of celebrations, marking 100 years of the university, but it stands overshadowed by COVID-19 and constant clashes between the Vice-Chancellor and the staff. On Friday evening, Manas Maity, a Professor of Physics, filed an FIR at the Santiniketan Police Station against the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Bidyut Chakrabarty, for humiliating teachers during an online meeting on June 8. While it is highly unlikely that anything of significance is going to come of the complaint, the FIR is an indication how the university is marking its centenary. “I guess something must be happening [to mark the centenary] but most of us have no idea about it,” said a teacher who has been employed with Visva-Bharati for over two decades now.