In 2014, the university level teachers of Visva-Bharati came together to form their own organisation, Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association (VBUFA), subsequently affiliated to two all India associations, FEDCUTA and AIFUCTO, to strive for creation of a better academic ambience in the institution. Since then, the organisation has been working to ensure a democratic functioning of the university, especially in terms of the teachers’ active participation in the decision-making processes. It has sought to uphold and nurture the core value of a university: the spirit of questioning, discussion and dialogue between its stakeholders and beyond. Promoting the ideas of inclusion and harmony embedded in its romantic dreamer yet pragmatic activist humanist founder’s conviction that “Visva-Bharati is like a vessel carrying the cargo of my life’s best treasure,” the VBUFA tries to advocate, secure and safeguard the rights of students and faculty members by addressing their academic and professional problems, and to sensitise them towards their obligations to the institution and the larger communal life of which it has been an organic part. Diligent loyalty to these objectives has been put to test over the last few years, with Tagore’s cultural and educational ideals in particular and democratic values and principles in general coming under severe attack in an increasingly intolerant, authoritarian and regressive political cultural milieu. However, the VBUFA has tirelessly fought against all odds, making the necessary sacrifices and holding its head high in the process, and takes the pledge to continue to do so in the future. With greater participation from faculty members, we hope to play a more decisive role in the academic and administrative policy-making of the institution, and thereby contribute more meaningfully towards making it a creative—and not merely productive—body that its founder-creator wanted it to be.
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