Governor Ravi Faces Major Rebuff: Low Turnout at VC Conference

Governor R N Ravi of Tamil Nadu faced a significant setback on Friday when only a fraction of the state’s university leaders attended his annual vice-chancellors’ conference in Ooty. Despite weeks of preparation and invitations to 56 heads of higher education institutions, only 18 showed up.

This year’s conference, which aimed to promote academic dialogue and innovation, was inaugurated by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. However, the low attendance quickly became a talking point. Out of the 18 attendees, only two were from state universities, and even those were not vice-chancellors but stand-ins.

Raj Bhavan officials attributed the absences to ‘unknown reasons,’ but the event has become the latest flashpoint in the ongoing conflict between the state government and the governor.

The poor turnout comes after the Supreme Court ruled against Governor Ravi, deeming his actions in withholding assent to 10 university Bills as ‘illegal and erroneous.’ The court’s decision empowered the state government to appoint vice-chancellors, a move that Ravi has been trying to counter.

Adding to the tension, Chief Minister M K Stalin organized a separate vice-chancellors’ conference a week earlier, which was widely attended. Left parties also called for a boycott of the governor’s event, labeling it a ‘contempt of the Supreme Court verdict.’

The governor’s office issued a statement dismissing criticism as ‘misleading and mischievous,’ insisting that the conference was a ‘well-intentioned academic exercise.’

However, the low turnout paints a stark picture of the strained relationship between the Raj Bhavan and the state government, with universities caught in the middle.