Teachers and students of Delhi University’s School of Open Learning (SOL) have written to the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the university expressing “sincere concerns” over the ongoing controversy over alleged offensive content in SOL’s study material for Bachelor’s students of political science. “We write to express our sincere concerns about the defamation of our institute,” the representation, sent to the VC last week, says. “We…strongly condemn and oppose any material which mentions abusive, oppressive and negative terms for women and Ambedkar.” It adds, “We completely stand together united against any person who writes or expresses such thoughts.” Disciplinary proceedings are currently underway against Saripalli V Ravikiran, an assistant professor at SOL, who is accused of including allegedly erroneous and offensive content in the study material. Internal documents of SOL allege the Self-Learning Material (SLM) prepared by Ravikiran contains “numerous factual errors” and “derogatory terms” that portray women as “seductresses, cunning and dishonest”, and describes Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar as a “militant”.  The university has accused Ravikiran of “gross misconduct”, and has reiterated that the ancient Indian …