Vijayawada: The allegations of master conduct raised by S. Prasanna Sree, the newly appointed vice president of Adikavi Nannaya University (ANU), sparked criticism, with senior faculty members accusing her of targeting colleagues and publicly shaming them, which they claimed were derailing them.
Faculty and staff claim that venture capital has been threatening disciplinary measures against minor issues, often defaming senior professors in front of students. The recent removal of a senior British teacher from the department and reassignment to the hotel warden has sparked dissatisfaction.
Nepotism allegations also surfaced, claiming that the VC’s relatives were appointed as visiting faculty at the PG Center of the University of Carkinada. Meanwhile, the Department of Political Science reportedly has no faculty at the moment because venture capitalists directed temporary staff not to report work after allegations of misconduct.
“It is unfair to venture capitalists and senior teachers in public public act in this way. Students are now supporting, some sending sympathetic messages, while others use this situation to spread abuse of speech.”
Faculty believe that while the state government’s goal is to bring AP universities into the top 100 of the U.S. National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), ANU’s focus has shifted to academia and research, and towards authoritarian practices that ignore ground reality.
There are also concerns that some employees are encouraged to act as informants, secretly documenting conversations between the library and the department’s students to misattribute to motivation – leading to uneasiness on campus.
Additionally, the venture capitalist allegedly seeks legal advice on how to terminate temporary employees or temporary employees who do not support her.
When contacted, ANU VC Prasanna Sree said: “We all work together. There are some sensitive issues between students and teachers that we are trying to solve. We will arrange faculty and staff for the political science department from other PG centers to help students prepare for the exam.”
Senior teachers are now seeking the intervention of the Minister of Education to restore academic priorities and improve ANU’s research standards.
The university currently has 22 general faculty, 1,800 students, two PG centers and Tadepalligudem in Kakinada, seven constituent colleges and 392 affiliated colleges.
