A PhD student at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University (MSU) in Tirunelveli declined to receive her doctorate from Tamil Nadu Governor and Chancellor RN Ravi during the institution’s 32nd convocation on Monday, alleging that he has acted against the interests of the Tamil people and the Tamil language.

The student, Jean Joseph, instead accepted her degree from the university’s Vice-Chancellor, M. Chandrasekar. Her decision, made on stage in front of other graduates and dignitaries, quickly drew attention on social media, with many commenting on her public stand.

It is noteworthy to mention that Jean Joseph is the wife of DMK Nagercoil Corporation Deputy Secretary M Rajan.

PhD student Jean Joseph is the wife of DMK Nagercoil Corporation Deputy Secretary M Rajan. He said that he and his wife had already planned to ignore Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi @NewIndianXpress @xpresstn pic.twitter.com/x9nXsS4Zy3

— Thinakaran Rajamani (@thinak_) August 13, 2025

The convocation ceremony saw Ravi present medals and degrees to several gold medalists. Tamil Nadu Minister for School Education and Pro-Chancellor of the University, Govi Chezhian, did not attend the event, with Chandrasekar citing “administrative commitments” as the reason for his absence.

Tamil Nadu governor and Chancellor R N Ravi with gold medalists of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University during 32nd convocation in Tirunelveli. Minister & Pro-Chancellor Govi Chezhiaan didn’t attend the event due to ‘administrative commitments’, said Vice-Chancellor N Chandrasekar. pic.twitter.com/3C1ZrE8dnu

— Thinakaran Rajamani (@thinak_) August 13, 2025

Jean Joseph later reportedly reiterated her reasons for the refusal, stating that she believed the Governor’s actions have been against Tamil Nadu and its cultural interests. The incident has since sparked debate online, with supporters hailing her as courageous while others criticised the protest as inappropriate for the occasion.

A PhD student, Jean Joseph, refused to receive the degree from Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi alleging governor is against Tamils and Tamil Nadu & instead accepted it from M Chandrasekar, Vice-Chancellor of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University. @xpresstn @NewIndianXpress https://t.co/onwicq1aMU pic.twitter.com/U32Kiccbfa

— Thinakaran Rajamani (@thinak_) August 13, 2025

(With inputs from ABP Live)

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The post PhD Student Jean Joseph Who Virtue-Signalled On Stage Refusing To Receive Degree From TN Guv RN Ravi Is The Wife Of A DMK Functionary appeared first on The Commune.

Wokeness appears to be infiltrating India’s premier tech institutions, as seen at the recent IIT-Madras convocation ceremony. A top mechanical engineering student used his award-acceptance speech to claim STEM fields, alleging they were being exploited to serve imperial powers like Israel. His anti-Semitic remarks have sparked concerns about the ideologies influencing young minds in such esteemed institutions.

IIT-M Convocation

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) celebrated its 61st convocation on 19 July 2024 at its campus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This year, 3,016 degrees were awarded, including Joint and Dual Degrees. A total of 444 PhDs were conferred, encompassing PhDs, joint degree PhDs with foreign institutions, and dual degree PhDs.

Degrees were awarded to 2,636 graduates, including 764 BTechs (27 with Honours), 277 Dual-Degree BTech and MTech, 481 MTech, 151 MSc, 42 MA, 50 Executive MBA, 84 MBA, 236 MS, and 107 Web-enabled MTech for executives. Among the PhD recipients, seven joint degrees were awarded to universities in countries like Australia, Singapore, France, and Germany.

The Chief Guest, Dr. Brian K. Kobilka, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (2012), addressed the convocation. Dr. Pawan Goenka, Chairman of the Board of Governors, IIT Madras, presided over the event with Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, faculty, staff, and students.

In his speech, Dr Kobilka congratulated the graduates and emphasised that his success was due to hard work, persistence, luck, and support from family, friends, and colleagues. He shared five key factors contributing to his career: finding his passion, having mentors, recognising and leveraging his strengths and weaknesses, maintaining a work-life balance, and learning from failures.

Dr. Kobilka highlighted his 21-year journey to obtaining structures of G-protein-coupled receptors in active/inactive states, which ultimately led to his Nobel Prize. He reflected on the many lessons learned from his failed experiments during this period.

Dhananjay Balakrishnan

At this time, Dhananjay Balakrishnan, a student from the Mechanical Engineering department, was awarded the Governor’s Prize for the best overall proficiency in curricular and extracurricular activities in Dual Degree.

In his acceptance speech for the award at the IIT-M convocation ceremony, Balakrishnan, who pursued an interdisciplinary dual degree in mechanical engineering and data science, made a statement that would remind us of Ashoka University’s convocation. He said he would be doing great injustice to himself and what he believes in.

He said, “This is a call for action. There is a mass genocide going on in Palestine. People are dying in vast numbers and there is no visible end in sight. Why should we be bothered by this you ask? Because STEM as a field in itself has historically been used to advance the ulterior motives of the imperial powers such as Israel. As engineering students, we work very hard to get top-level jobs at tech giants which offer very lucrative pays and great benefits. However, these tech giants control various aspects of our lives today as you know better than anyone. Many of these prestigious companies are also directly and indirectly implicated in the war against Palestine by providing the state of Israel with technology, technology that is used to kill.”

He further said, “There are no easy solutions and I don’t have all the answers but I do know this. As engineers graduating into the real world, it is our job to be aware of the consequences of the work we do and also to interrogate our own position in these complex systems of power imbalance. I hope that we can incorporate this awareness more into our daily lives attempting to understand what we can do to liberate the oppressed on lines of caste, class, creed, and gender. I believe that is the first step to curb the never-ending cycle of suffering.”

It was assumed that IITs are not as woke as other universities like JNU, Ashoka, or Jamia Milia Islamia. However, this instance indicates that wokeness has seeped into IITs, the very roots , especially IIT Madras, in the STEM field.

(with inputs from Indian Express)

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The post “STEM Has Been Used To Advance Imperial Powers Like Israel”: IIT-M Student Goes Woke During Convocation Speech appeared first on The Commune.