Wipe that grin off your face ! MU in the rut of smugness
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 08, 2011 -

There can be nothing more lethal or dangerous than the feeling of smugness or satisfaction to set in and while this holds true in the case of all that is associated with life, progress or evolution, the sense of tragedy is more acute when it comes to places of learning.

Those engaged in the fiercely competitive world of sports or thrown into the cut throat race for excellence in any field will understand the essence of this observation and in many ways we may say that Manipur University is today suffering from a state of ennui triggered by a smugness that borders on the arrogance and a feeling of satisfaction derived from the wrong or misplaced parameters.

Wipe that grin off your face, is the by line of a strict teacher while reprimanding a notorious student, but increasingly it is becoming clear that perhaps it is this type of reprimand that Manipur University needs for far too long its top honchos have been exhibiting a mindset, which says nothing else, except that they are a satisfied lot, satisfied with how the university has been stumbling from one ugly chapter to another.

The last time Manipur University made it to the news for the right reason was perhaps the time when the then President of India, Abdul Kalam paid a visit to the varsity and attended the convocation ceremony in the backdrop of the conversion or upgradation of MU to a Central University.

This was a good couple of years back and any thought that the die hard optimists may have harboured about the university then evaporated in no time, with accusations and counter accusations involving some of the faculty members, the students, Manipur University Students' Union, Manipur University Tribal Students' Union and everyone who had something or the other to do with the highest seat of learning in the State.

It will be well nigh impossible to trace the genesis of the ills afflicting MU with pin point precision, but the presence of numerous authors responsible for scripting the sorry tale of this university will not be missed by anyone. Every seat of learning, particularly universities have their own peculiar set of problems and issues, but the difference between others and MU lies in the approach towards these problems and issues.

So far we have not seen or heard of anything substantial being taken up to plug the loopholes and far from it, the past is more than enough to indicate that the hands responsible for plunging the university into an endless pool of crises are all inside jobs. This is what is worrying.

When a seat of learning gains notoriety as a centre of contract works then it is time to wipe that grin off everyone's face. The recent incident, in which some labourers engaged in construction works at the university were beaten up is more than enough to conclude that it has become some sort of a feeding ground for a number of faceless contractors.

The assault of the labourers was preceded by the decision of the Executive Council of the university to give the go ahead signal to the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the conduct of some engineers who are attached to the engineering unit of MU.

This is not just a case of some engineers putting their fingers in the pie or putting their signatures on some doctored documents, but tells a story of something far more complex and deeper. Compounding the matter is the seeming reluctance of the university authority to take the matter by its horn and see what steps can be initiated to breathe fresh life into the university.

The campus, no doubt now looks much more impressive than it was some years back. There is no dearth of funds and development works can be seen going on at an appreciable pace. However as we have repeatedly noted in this column, a place of learning, a university, is not only about concrete buildings and state of the art libraries.

It means much more than this and a place of learning should be a living, breathing entity. It should be a centre of debates, discussions, a place from where ideas germinate which will in turn dictate how the place or the people move towards their future.

A case in point is the intermittently long time that the university was allowed to function without a regular Vice-Chancellor. The former VC, Professor C Amuba retired from service at the latter part of January this year and it was not until April that a serious search for the next VC started.

We are already into June and though the grapevine says that the short-listed names have been submitted to the President for her final approval, the question still remains, why and how a university which has the President of India as its Visitor is allowed to function without a regular VC for five months.

No doubt there is the acting VC, but the fact stands that a stop gap arrangement is not what a university needs, certainly not Manipur University. Why did it take so long for the Search Committee to get its act started ?

These are questions that need answers and fast. The signs of smugness, triggered by a sense of self satisfaction is writ large everywhere and as we have noted at the opening sentence of this editorial, there can be no more lethal prescription for a university to revel in smug- ness, which borders on the arrogance.

Ennui, lethargy and stagnation are by products of such a culture taking deep roots. For the moment there is the urgent need for the top honchos, the dons of MU, to wipe that grin off their faces for there is nothing to smile about.