Editing Thammasat University (section)

== History ==
The name "Thammasat" derives from the Buddhist-term [[Dhammasattha]], meaning "study of law".

=== University of Law and Political Sciences ===
[[File:Monument of Pridi Banomyong, Thammasat University 02.jpg|thumb|[[Pridi Banomyong]] monument, Tha Phra Chan Campus]]
[[File:Emblem of UMPS (later Thammasat University).png|thumb|University of Law and Political Sciences logo]]

Thammasat University began in 1934 as the University of Law and Political Sciences. This was two years after the so-called [[Siamese revolution of 1932]] and eighteen years after the founding of [[Chulalongkorn University]] by transforming the law school of Prince Raphi Phatthanasak Krommaluang Ratcha Buri Direk Rit, which dated back to 1907. Thammasat University was the brainchild of [[Pridi Banomyong]], the father of Thailand's democracy and the [[Ministry of Interior (Thailand)|minister of interior]], who drafted the "University of Law and Political Science Act 1934".<ref>{{cite book |title=Pridi by Pridi: selected writings on life, politics, and economy |last=Banomyong |first=Pridi |others=translated and introduced by Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit |year=2000 |publisher=Silkworm Books |location=Chiang Mai |isbn=974-7551-35-7 |pages=178–179 |chapter= Excerpt from: Concise Autobiography of Nai Pridi Banomyong |chapter-url=http://www.openbase.in.th/files/pridibook049part3_1.pdf |access-date=13 July 2009}}</ref> The university was inaugurated on 27 June 1934, and Pridi served as the university's first chancellor.

The university is based on the sixth principle of the [[Khana Ratsadon|People's Party]].<ref>{{cite book |title= Pridi Banomyong and Thammasat University|last= Kasetsiri|first= Chanwit|author2=Michael Wright  |year= 2000|publisher=Thammasat University|isbn=974-572-764-4|pages=54–56}}</ref>
The first announcement of Khana Ratsadon stated the government "must provide the people with full education" because people "lack education, which is reserved for royals".<ref>{{cite book |title=Pridi by Pridi: selected writings on life, politics, and economy |last=Banomyong |first=Pridi |others=translated and introduced by Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit |year=2000 |publisher=Silkworm Books |location=Chiang Mai |isbn=974-7551-35-7 |pages=70–72 |access-date=13 July 2009|chapter= Announcement of the People's Party No.1 (1932) |chapter-url=http://www.openbase.in.th/files/pridibook049part2_1.pdf }}</ref> The desire of students at the school of law to be upgraded to a university rather than simply a department at Chulalongkorn University also helped Thammasat University become the successor of the law school.<ref>{{cite book |title= Pridi Banomyong and Thammasat University|last= Kasetsiri|first= Chanwit|others= translated by Michael Wright |year= 2000|publisher=Thammasat University|isbn=974-572-764-4|page=56}}</ref> The property and faculty of the law school were transferred to University of Law and Political Science, and the old law school building was the first Thammasat site. The university moved to Tha Phra Chan campus the following year.

When the university opened, 7,094 people applied for admission. At that time, Chulalongkorn University was graduating only 68 students a year.<ref>{{cite book |title= Pridi Banomyong and Thammasat University|last= Kasetsiri|first= Chanwit|others= translated by Michael Wright|year= 2000|publisher=Thammasat University|isbn=974-572-764-4|pages=56–57}}</ref> Thammasat initially offered a [[bachelor's degree]] with an emphasis on legal studies and previously banned [[economics]] and [[political science]], plus a bachelor's degree equivalent diploma in accountancy. [[Master's degree]] courses soon followed in [[law]], [[political science]], and [[economics]], and [[doctoral degree]] courses in law, political science, economics, and diplomacy.<ref>{{cite book |title= Pridi Banomyong and Thammasat University|last= Kasetsiri|first= Chanwit|others= translated by Michael Wright |year= 2000|publisher=Thammasat University|isbn=974-572-764-4|pages=58}}</ref>

During its early years, the university did not rely on government funding, but instead relied on its low tuition fees and interest paid by the [[Bank of Asia|Bank of Asia for Industry and Commerce]], in which the university had an 80% stake.

Under Pridi's leadership, the university became the clandestine headquarters of the [[Free Thai Movement|Free Thai]] anti-Japanese underground during [[World War II|the Second World War]]. Ironically, the university campus also functioned as an internment camp for Allied civilians, with Thai guards more or less protecting them from abuses by the occupying Japanese. The internment camp was where the Multipurpose Building now stands.

=== Reform ===
The [[Siamese coup d'état of 1947|coup d'état on 8 November 1947]] marked the end of an era. Pridi Banomyong left the country and went into exile. The original Thammasat degree was replaced by specialised departments in 1949, when the Faculties of Law, Political Science, Commerce and Accountancy, and Economics were founded. The university was forced to sell its bank shares, thus becoming dependent on government funding. The words "and Political Sciences" were removed from its name, and Thammasat was no longer an open university. A new "Thammasat University Act" was passed in 1952. Thammasat added four more faculties during the 1950s and 1960s: social administration, journalism and mass communication, liberal arts, and sociology and anthropology.

=== Bloody October protests ===
In 1973, Thammasat became the centre of the pro-democracy protest movement that led to the [[History of Thailand (1932–1973)#The 1973 democracy movement|bloody uprising on 14 October]]. A large crowd, led by university students, assembled at Thammasat University to protest the arrest of thirteen pro-democracy student activists. The protest continued for several days before a bloody confrontation took place at the [[Democracy Monument]]. When Thailand's military leaders fled into exile, [[Sanya Dharmasakti]], then Thammasat rector, was appointed Prime Minister of Thailand.

[[File:6 ตุลา อนุสรณ์สถานที่ธรรมศาสตร์ 2563 ครบรอบ 44 ปี 01.jpg|thumb|6 October Memorial, Tha Phra Chan]]

Three years later, the [[Thammasat University massacre|6 October 1976 massacre]] took place on the Tha Phra Chan campus. The event began with protests against the return of exiled dictator [[Thanom Kittikachorn]]. Violence first appeared on 25 September when two [[Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand|EGAT]] employees who handed out protest literature in [[Nakhon Pathom]] were branded "communists", beaten to death, and their bodies hung from a wall. This led to peaceful protests by labor groups, students, and other activists demanding the expulsion of Thanom.

On 4 October, students staged a play on the Thammasat campus to dramatize the hanging of the protesters in Nakhon Pathom. Several newspapers printed photographs of the mock hanging with one of the students retouched to resemble Crown Prince [[Vajiralongkorn]], an act of [[Lèse majesté in Thailand|lèse-majesté]]. Uniformed police and enraged right-wing paramilitary groups promptly surrounded Thammasat University. At dawn on 6 October the police and paramilitary groups attacked the protesters. The assault continued for several hours. Newspaper sources reported the number killed as between 43 and 46, but the actual figure may have been over a hundred, with several hundred more injured.<ref>{{cite web |last=Winichakul |first=Thongchai |year=2001 |title="We Do Not Forget the 6 October": The 1996 Commemoration of the October 1976 Massacre in Bangkok |url=http://www.2519.net/autopage/show_page.php?t=4&s_id=1&d_id=1 |access-date=2009-07-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126141058/http://www.2519.net/autopage/show_page.php?t=4&s_id=1&d_id=1 |archive-date=January 26, 2009 }}</ref> Many student protesters escaped by jumping into [[Chao Phraya River]], where they were shot at by the Royal Thai Navy.<ref name="Handley-2006">{{cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/8599856|title=The King Never Smiles; A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej|last1=Handley|first1=Paul M|date=2006|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-10682-3|location=New Haven|pages=236|access-date=5 October 2016}}</ref>

One of the student leaders was [[Seksan Prasertkul]], who wrote the protest song ''Su mai toi'', which was adopted by the [[People's Democratic Reform Committee|2013-2014 anti-government protesters]] in Thailand. Seksan is now (2016) a lecturer at Thammasat University.

=== Expansion ===
During the 1980s, Thammasat University built a new campus at Rangsit to house the new Faculty of Science and Technology. It accepted its first students in 1985. The Faculty of Engineering opened at Rangsit in 1989, followed by the Faculty of Medicine in 1990. By the late-1990s, all first year students were studying at Rangsit. At present almost all undergraduate classes are taught at Rangsit, the exceptions being some international English language programmes and some special programmes. Graduate degree classes are still taught at Tha Phra Chan.

The Rangsit campus was chosen as one of the venues for the [[1998 Asian Games]].

Thammasat University is a member of "Links to Asia by Organizing Traineeship and Student Exchange" ([[LAOTSE]]), a network of universities in Europe and Asia. Regional cooperation is maintained by means of the [[Greater Mekong Sub-region Academic and Research Network]].