neutralJi: I don't know Damodar gautam, but after reading your assessment of him, I did some google search and found out that he taught at Michigan State University, Mankato as a visiting professor. Like you, the Chair of the Political Science Department was impressed with his presentation years ago, and had arranged some visiting money to come and teach at his university (asd a fulbright scholar). http://www.mnsu.edu/news/read.php?id=old-1037858400 This is remarkable that an ex-bureaucrat had scholarly flare to have made an academic impression on a Chair of the American University. I would also be interested in knowing if he has any other scholarly writings to deserve a spot at KU. The point is that instead of launching a sweeping smear campaign against KU's management, we need to find out the truth. So, my question about Mr. Bhatta still remains unanswered as posed above..among many, did he draw salary from KU during his studies in the US? If so, for how many years? Did he get a studies leave from KU? If so, how many years? Currently, he seems to have landed an assistane professor position (his letter in TKP two days ago). (More power to him, but does he feel that he has some obligation towards his institution?) These are all unanswered questions? Similarly, KU also needs to state the case clear and perhaps go to court. Similarly, it would still be interesting to find out about the qualification of those who got fired and see how they fare against the "kins and siblings" like Suresh Raj's daughter and Damodar Gautam. ST