New Delhi: The Central University of Kerala in Kasargod has dropped an elective course titled ‘Dalit Studies’, allegedly after the new syllabus included texts authored by people who have been critical of the Centre.The revised syllabus was to be introduced in the course, which is offered by the university’s English and Comparative Studies department in the second semester. According to The News Minute, this included texts written by Arundhati Roy, Gopal Guru, D.R. Nagaraj, Anand Teltumbde, Gail Omvedt and Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd among others. These new texts were chosen by an expert committee of the Board of Studies and was later approved by the administration.According to reports, when a faculty meeting was convened by Vellikkal Raghavan, the department’s head, the course was not listed among those that would be offered. The timetable which specified the course allocated to faculty members entirely omitted Dalit Studies. “Instead, Disapora Studies, an older course which had not been revised since 2016 was offered to students, according to sources within the university,” reported The News Minute.HOD Raghavan had reportedly asked faculty members on November 29 to inform him about the courses which compulsory or core course and elective they would like to offer for the semester. Former HOD professor Prasad Pannian, who had earlier offered Dalit Studies, said he would like to do so again. Pannian sent the mail to the HOD on December 2.Raghavan said because of the two-day delay in receiving Pannian’s mail, the course had been withheld.According to The News Minute, professor Pannian has written to the university’s vice chancellor, dean and registrar, urging them to take action against “the unfair and unwarranted exclusion of the said elective”.This is not the first time that the university, the only one under the Centre in Kerala, has found itself in a controversy. In September 2018, professor Pannian was suspended as the HOD because of a Facebook post in which he supported a student who had been arrested.Research scholar Ganthoti Nagaraju was arrested for breaking the glass pane of a fire alarm in the hostel. Pannian defended him, saying that “an act of misdemeanour has been criminalised is deeply disturbing. As far as I understand, this is a minor offence that should have been settled on the campus itself.”“Mr Nagaraju lost his mother a few months back and has been going through severe mental stress and agony for the past few months. He has also not been receiving his fellowship for quite some time. It is extremely saddening to know that our student is lying on the cold floor of the prison cell on charges of breaking a glass pane. I strongly condemn this arrest and appeal to the authorities to secure the release of our student immediately,” he said.The university suspended him, citing the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules. “The Act of Dr Prasad Pannian is in violation of CCS Conduct Rules 1964 adopted by the University vide Ordinance No.34 and warrants Disciplinary proceedings against him,” the suspension order says.University asked students to work on ‘national priorities’In March this year, the Central University of Kerala said it will provide incoming PhD students with a list of research topics “in accordance with national priorities” and asked them not to conduct “irrelevant research”.While the university did not elaborate what it considers to be of “national priority” or “irrelevant”, it was criticised by faculty members, who said the circular had been issued without consulting the academic council.G. Gopa Kumar, the university’s vice-chancellor, told the media that by “national priority”, he meant the nation’s economy, technology, food security, social issues. “A 25-year-old student will not know what the country needs. So it is better to give him/her ideas,” he said.This is also not the first time that Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd’s books have been sought to be removed from the syllabus of a university. In October 2018, the Delhi University’s standing committee on academic affairs recommended two books – Why I am not a Hindu, Post-Hindu India and God as Political Philosopher: Buddha’s Challenge to Brahminism – written by him to be dropped from the MA (political science) reading list because some members found them “controversial” and that they did not have “academic value”.