Guest faculty, University of Mysore divided over fresh recruitments

MYSURU: University of Mysore's (UoM) decision to sack 660 faculty members, citing excess temporary staff and a fund crunch, has left many dumbstruck, given that barely three months ago, the same university had appointed additional guest faculty and even granted them an honorarium.
If that defies logic, then there's more.
From March 10-20, the university will be conducting a fresh round of walk-in interviews to appoint guest faculty to 42 departments.
The university authorities tried to justify their moves, saying that these were purely stop-gap arrangements to cope with additional workload.
Appointment of faculty on payroll is on hold since 2007, owing to an irregular roster, even as more than 350 posts of assistant professors, associate professors and professors remain vacant.
Currently, only 150 faculties are working along with the 665 guest faculty members at UoM.
Existing guest faculty members, meanwhile, are angry. Their request to increase working hours from the existing 12 hours a week to 16 has been ignored - something that the guest faculty claim is in contravention of University Grants Commission (UGC) rules. They have also been barred from attending the latest round of walk-in interviews to be conducted from Friday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a guest faculty member claimed that all their joy over a hike in honorarium last November, fizzled out following withdrawal of the grant in December. Worse still, the 25% increased honorarium amount was deducted from their pay with immediate effect.
"What was the need for fresh recruitment when the university already has 600-plus guest faculties working across colleges," another guest faculty member wondered.
When contacted by TOI, UoM vice chancellor in-charge, Muzaffar Assadi, confirmed that interviews for the appointment of guest faculty to various departments will start from March 10.
He said these are temporary recruitments, meant to handle extra class hours.
Asked about guest faculty members' demand to increase weekly working hours from 12 to 16, the acting VC said he had not received any petition from them.
Guest faculties were categorized based on their working hours - four hours, eight hours and 12 hours a week.
A member of the Syndicate, which is the apex body of the varsity, also questioned the logic behind the latest notification for recruitment of additional guest faculty in the middle of an academic year.