Pratap Bhanu Mehta resigns as Ashoka University VC to focus on academics

Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Vice-Chancellor of Ashoka University has resigned from his post citing return to full-time academic life as the reason behind his resignation. However, he announced that he would step down from his post with effect from August 1.

In a communication to the varsity community, Bhanu said: "I write to announce that I will be stepping down as Vice-Chancellor, Ashoka University, effective August 1st, 2019. The Chancellor has kindly accepted my resignation."

"Being Vice-Chancellor of Ashoka has been an extraordinary privilege. But after much deliberation, I decided that I need to return to more full-time academic life. I will continue to be associated with Ashoka University. I will continue to teach, learn, write and enjoy the intellectual richness of this wonderful university, and help it in any way I can," said Pratap Bhanu Mehta.

Further, he said that he had increasingly begun to feel the tension between his vocation as an academic and his obligation as an administrator.

"I was lucky enough to have the full support of the university in all my endeavours, including my writing. But I had increasingly begun to feel the tension between my vocation as an academic and my obligations as an administrator. The practical challenges and responsibilities that come with running a university left me without enough space for my writing and other academic interests. I had lots of freedom but little time. It was time to give academic life one more shot before my synapses irrevocably hardened," he stated.

"I wanted to carve out a space to engage with the practical and theoretical challenges of our time and return to various unfinished projects. The contemporary world has unsettled so many of our political and philosophical assumptions, and I increasingly felt the need to reorient myself academically. Hence, the decision to step down," said Mehta.

"The timing of my stepping down as VC may occasion speculation. But I thought it would be best to leave before the new academic year began, rather than cause disruption during the year," he said .