Academics from MIT, Oxford and more support JNU's battle against hostel fee hike

Members of the academic community from Asia, Africa, North America, Europe and Australia have extended their solidarity to JNUSU, taking the protest beyond just the continent
Students protesting at JNU (Pic: Twitter)
Students protesting at JNU (Pic: Twitter)

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union on Thursday said it has received "overwhelming support" from more than 150 universities and institutes across the world in its battle against the hostel fee hike for the past two weeks. According to an official solidarity statement document provided by the JNUSU, signatories supporting their battle are currently based in or have been associated with the like of universities and institutes such as the School of Oriental and African Studies, London (SOAS), University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Johns Hopkins University, Nanyang Technological University Singapore, Brown University and over a hundred more in total.

In a statement on Thursday, the JNUSU said "the ongoing struggle to safeguard public education has received overwhelming support and solidarity from over 2,000 members of the academic community, currently placed in more than 150 universities and institutes around the world," adding, "Members of the academic community from Asia, Africa, North America, Europe and Australia have extended their solidarity to JNUSU and the entire JNU students community." They also added in the statement that the students will continue this fight in a steadfast manner.

Following protests from the students' union, the administration on Wednesday announced a partial rollback (only 33 per cent of the originally proposed hike) of the hostel fee that was increased in the proposed Draft Hostel Manual. Facing an intense agitation for over two weeks, the JNU administration partially rolled back the hostel fee hike for BPL (below poverty line) students not availing any scholarship on Wednesday, a move that failed to satisfy the protesting students, who dubbed it as an "eyewash" and decided to continue with the strike. The students demanded a complete rollback and the decrease, they said, is marginal.

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