Santishree Pandit appointed first woman Vice Chancellor of JNU

News Desk:
Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, a political science professor at Savitribai Phule Pune University, has been appointed as the first women Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).She was appointed by President Ram Nath Kovind, who is the University’s Visitor., She will hold the job for the next five years. She succeeds M. Jagadesh Kumar, who was appointed chairperson of the University Grants Commission last week, after a stormy tenure.Pandit has been appointed for five years from the date she assumes the charge as the 13th vice-chancellor of the JNU.
Pandit, a professor in the politics and public administration department at the university in Pune, will succeed M Jagadesh Kumar, who was appointed as higher education regulator University Grants Commission chairperson on Friday.
An alumnus of JNU, Pandit did her MPhil and PhD from its School of International Studies between 1986 and 1990. Pandit did her master’s in political science from Chennai’s Presidency College. She has also taught at Goa University.
Pandit, 59, was born in St Petersburg (Russia), where her mother was a professor of Tamil and Telugu at the Leningrad Oriental Faculty Department . Her predecessor’s tenure at JNU coincided with the 2016 sedition charges against student leaders for allegedly shouting anti-India slogans, protests against hostel fee increase, and an attack on campus by a masked mob in January 2020, which left several students and teachers injured. Kumar remained at loggerheads with the students’ and teachers’ unions over issues such as alleged seat cuts in research courses, the manner in which meetings of statutory bodies were conducted, and alleged irregularities in faculty appointments.