Friday, April 08, 2022

IIMA logo controversy-I : symptom of a deeper malaise

IIMA announced a change in its over sixty-year logo recently. The director had told the faculty that the board had approved two logos, one that retained the original Sanskrit quote and another that did not retain it (and was intended for an international audience).

Faculty protested against the changes that had been made without consulting them. Here is one of the many media stories on the subject. The Institute then came out with an announcement. Here is a part of it:

The proposed logo continues the legacy of the original logo, retains the status line in Sanskrit (VidyaViniyogadVikasa) as in the original, the colour rendition has been improved, the fonts modernized, the 'jaali' inspired brand mark has been made more amenable to communication in digital media, and the brand name made more distinct. The proposed logo is to be released in June of this year after the annual vacation.

But the controversy has not died down. Current and retired faculty and alumni have mounted a campaign against any change in the logo. Some point out that leading universities in the world have retained their logos for centuries.

Like many of my colleagues, I find the new logos distasteful. But that's not the point. The point is that faculty are miffed over the fact that they were not consulted.

Those who know about IIMA would know that it what conceived as a 'faculty-governed' institution, that is, key decisions would be taken by the faculty. Legally, all powers vest with the board. The board delegates powers to the director. Successive directors have chosen to be guided by the faculty, in effect, sharing powers with faculty. This beautiful construct was the work of Vikram Sarabhai, the scientist, and Ravi Matthai, the first full-time director of IIMA. 

The idea that something as important as a change in the Institute logo can happen without any faculty input is revolting to anybody associated with IIMA.

The erosion in faculty governance is not sudden, it has happened over time and over the tenures of several directors. To me, a turning point was the fee increase of over 150 per cent in 2008. Faculty were told about the increase via email on Convocation day after the increase had been approved by the board. Some of us who had not checked our email got to know from the newspapers the next morning! No explanation was given for the stupendous increase in fee.

There is an interesting post-script to that episode. After the fee was announced to the public, it came up for 'approval' at a subsequent faculty meeting. Somebody asked what was there to approved since the board had already taken a decision on the matter and announced it to the world. One of the lackeys of the director chimed in to say that the approval sought was not for the fee itself but the components thereof- how much for the academic programme, how much for the hostel, mess, etc! So much for faculty governance.

Over time, the lack of consultation has extended to various matters. Centres have sprung up without faculty approval or discussion. Important appointments have happened in arbitrary ways. IIMA has, for years, followed the 'Nominations' process for appointments to administrative positions, such as Dean. The director would invite nominations from faculty. The idea was that the leadership would emerge from within instead of being imposed from above.

I have no idea how well it worked in the initial years. What I do know that, in recent years, it has been  nothing but a fraud perpetrated on faculty by successive directors. Faculty put in their nominations and the director sticks to his pre-meditated choices. In some cases, we came to know that the director had sounded out individuals for positions even before nominations were sought.

On one occasion, the director appointed a contemporary of his from IIMA at Visting Faculty for one year. A year later, the concerned area found the individual unsuitable for a permanent position. The Director then gave him a five year appointment as VF and proceeded to elevate him to the post of Dean (alumni), a  post just one rung below the Director. Evidently, none of the permanent and senior faculty qualified for the position.

There are three Deans at IIMA. Prior to the IIM Act, one of the Deans was eligible to officiate as Director when the incumbent stepped down and until a new director was appointed. So we could, in principle, have had someone who did not qualify or a permanent position presiding over the faculty of the Institute in his capacity as Officiating or Acting Director!

There is also a complete absence of norms for other appointments such as membership of the Faculty Development and Evaluation Committee and faculty membership of the Board of Governors. Earlier, many of these positions went by seniority- you had to be a full professor and one of the senior-most faculty would be chosen. All that has fallen by the wayside. Directors have made these appointments according to their whims and fancies.

The current turmoil at IIMA thus has deep roots. The logo issue is a symptom of a deeper malaise, the steady erosion of faculty governance and the shift in decision-making from the faculty to the board (in effect, the director). 

The sad part is that things have become worse after the IIM Act that has conferred greater autonomy on the IIMs. I will post separately on that subject. 


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