Members of the Avinashilingam University Teaching and Non-Teaching Welfare Association petitioned the District Collector Archana Patnaik to immediately sort out the issues between the faculty and management here on Monday.

It may be noted that the faculty and the students of the university had been protesting from last Wednesday demanding the management to give a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoA) that was signed between the management and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). Despite agreeing to give a copy of the MoA after the intervention of the District Administration, the management refused to give a copy of the same to the faculty.

Even as the management assured orally that MHRD would continue as the sponsoring society, the protesters demanded a written copy from the management to which the latter did not comply with.

Denying allegations that teachers were instigating students to join the protest, one of the teachers said that students themselves joined the protest as they were related to the issue directly.

“We do not have to teach about these issues to students of today, they are well aware of the issue and we just clarified their doubts. After all, they would be directly affected if the management stops the funding from the University Grants Commission (UGC). It is their strike and we are just supporting them,” a teacher said.

She further added that the management had already increased the fee of the students stating that the fee would increase even further if the funding was stopped. “For example, the current fee for Bachelor of Commerce course is between Rs. 3,500 and Rs. 4,000. If the funding is stopped, then the fee will be Rs. 25,000,” she said.

“This is an institution started by Avinashilingam Chettiyar for the betterment of the rural woman. We are fighting to retain it the same way,” the teacher said.