We teach students at Jadavpur not to look for immediate economic gains or quantifiable results, but to build critical capacities that allow them to make judgments without the pressure to reach mechanical consensus on complex issues. 5 min read Apr 28, 2026 06:11 PM IST First published on: Apr 28, 2026 at 06:11 PM IST As a teacher of social science, I see the current difficulties faced by the humanities and social sciences as more than just a “relevance crisis”. For people like me who grew up intellectually within the ethos of Jadavpur University (JU), where dissent was not merely tolerated but cultivated as part of learning, the evolving narrative feels far more unsettling. What, then, is the point of a university? In a recent election rally, our Prime Minister juxtaposed the idea of an “academic atmosphere” with what he termed “chaos” within the university — an image that evokes protest, threat, and ideological perversion. He also described JU — where I teach — as a place of “anarchy” that needed “saving”.…