JNU STORIES

Jawaharlal Nehru university,
one of India?s premier educational institutions, has fostered high academic
values and norms, pioneered forms of inclusion which have made for a unique
student body, and created spaces for critical thinking, while also deepening
respect for democratic traditions. This has made it among the most desirable
of public universities for the exceptional standards of higher education It
upholds. In its fiftieth year, JNU continues to stand tall despite coming
under siege for precisely the kinds of academic achievements, democratic
traditions, and inclusive policies for which it was well known. Jnu was
established in 1969 under the leadership of G parthasarathi and moon is Raza.
It soon became an innovative intervention in the field of higher education in
encouraging interdisciplinary, in pioneering exemplary pedagogical methods
that have inspired programmes of higher education elsewhere, and in remaining
steadfastly committed to ideals of equality and social justice. The faculty and
alumni of JNU today include highly respected academics and researchers, some
of whom have been recipients of the Nobel, the Bhagat, and the Infosys
Awards. The contributors to this book?who include some of the University most
prominent alumni as well as those who have been an integral part of the
institutional the history of JNU from its beginnings in the 1970s and 1980s,
through the times when it expanded and grew, developed unique centres and
schools, and responded creatively to the demands and needs of the complex
student body. The essays in the volume recall the University ethos and
outline those unique and worthwhile features of the institution which have
given the University its identity. The essays are commemorative of jnu?s
achievements but also serve as an important archive for preserving its
institutional memory. The book is divided into twelve sections??spaces and
places?, ?imagining the University?, ?of schools and centres?, ?sites of
learning?, ?living and loving?, ?politics, posters, performances?, ?giving
meaning to social diversity?, ?gender and sexuality?, ?the way things were?,
?promises to fulfil?, ?memories from afar?, and ?the spirit of JNU?. each
section consists of diverse contributions from former students and teachers,
and from administrators and Staff. A rich picture is thus built up through
personalized narratives and reflections, on the institution singularity as
well as what it shares with other public universities to make it the premier
public University in India today. Beautifully designed with over a hundred
photographs, JNU stories: the first 50 years is the first wide-ranging and
critical look at a remarkable experiment in public higher education.