Whose loss is it?

In New India, universities don’t tolerate ‘activist’ students who ask for scholarship enhancement. Oxford University does, with a generous scholarship

Bhimraj M, a student expelled by the South Asia University, has got admission to Oxford University with a scholarship. Why should it be an event? His admission has acquired significance only because of his expulsion from the SAU. Would we then like to know why a bright scholar like him was expelled by his university and what happened after that?

Then it should also be possible for us to remember that four teachers at the same university have been suspended for more than a week. Their suspension is related to the expulsion of Bhimraj. This fact has been reported by online media, and some newspapers also took note of it, but then it disappeared from public discussion.

It should be a matter of concern for us that teachers are being punished for speaking to the university authorities about their humane attitude towards the students. The university administration considers this request of the teachers an act of incitement against the administration. For this 'crime,' the teachers have been punished.

But why did the teachers have to speak? Since September 2022, the students have been agitating against the sudden cut in scholarships. According to them, the scholarship needed to be increased, taking into account the rising inflation, but it was reduced. They were also demanding representation of students in the statutory committees of the university. Especially in committees dealing with gender and sexual harassment. Not an illegitimate demand. Other public universities do have student representation on at least these two committees.

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When they were not heeded, the students did picketing and gherao. The administration called the police. After this, 13 teachers wrote to the administration that they should have refrained from calling the police to the campus, also because the university is international. After that, many teachers met with the officials to diffuse the situation. Instead of listening to them, the administration punished five students in different ways. Punishments ranging from suspension to cancellation of admission were given to them. The teachers again met with the administration and urged them to start a dialogue with the students. When nothing happened, the students again started a fast, which later turned into a fast unto death. Some of them became very ill, and one, Ammar, was so affected that he had to be hospitalised several times. Angered by his deteriorating condition, the students went to the registrar's room and said that the administration should visit him and that arrangements should be made for his treatment. The hunger strike continued. The administration then withdrew its order punishing the students but issued fresh show-cause notices. Also, two students, Umesh Joshi and Bhimraj, were expelled from the university.

Bhimraj is the one who is now making news for having been selected by Oxford University for a research course. He was demanding an increase in scholarship, for which he was penalised. Now he has been given a full scholarship by Oxford to pursue his studies.

The agitation ended in December, but at the end of the month, the administration issued show-cause notices to four teachers. They were accused of supporting the students' agitation, instigating them, visiting sick Ammar in the hospital, and writing letters to the administration. It was also alleged that some of them had links with a Marxist study circle on campus.

After this, a high-level fact-finding committee was constituted, and the accused teachers were asked to appear before it. When they reached the room, each was given a booklet. Containing questions (numbering 132 to 246) to be answered by the accused teachers. They were ordered to sit there and write the answers with a pen. This method of fact-finding shocked them. They naturally felt humiliated. They objected to it and asked for questions to be shared electronically. The committee refused and threatened that refusing to obey would also be treated as evidence against him.

This high-level committee also had senior teachers as members. But they did not hesitate to behave in this manner with their colleagues. The teachers then wrote to the president of the university. In response to that report, the administration suspended Snehasish Bhattacharya, Srinivas Burra, Irfanullah Farooqi, and Ravi Kumar.

This whole incident shows how insensitive the attitude of the administration is. It has no respect for the dignity of any of the students or teachers.

There are other teachers in the university, just as there are other students besides the agitating students and the teachers suffering punishment. These teachers could also have lived a quieter life. Is it not their duty to just go to the class and get the syllabus completed? Why did they need to engage in activism? But these teachers did what they felt was their duty. The university rests on the reciprocity of teachers and students. Irrespective of the physical, mental, or psychological condition of the students, it is easy to keep lecturing in the class, but is it appropriate?

What could be more ironic than a class lecture on the relationship between power and injustice while students are sitting on a fast unto death?

The tendency to discipline teachers is getting stronger in India. Just as I am writing this, I read that the Presidency University in Kolkata has issued a code of conduct for teachers and students. Prior to that, many of the central universities had implemented codes of conduct to restrain teachers by implementing the civil service code of conduct for them. Efforts are being made to outlaw their speaking, writing, and public activism.

Forty-eight teachers at Jawaharlal Nehru University are currently fighting a legal battle against similar disciplinary action. Professor Sonya Surbhi Gupta of Jamia Millia Islamia has been suspended for her involvement in the activities of the teachers union. There is no public memory of these acts.

Universities are known to come alive with teachers and students. But here, efforts are being made to reduce them to the status of mere government employees. It is expected that they should consider themselves subordinates to the administration and obey their orders.

After the action against the students and teachers at 'South Asia University', once again it has become necessary to talk about the relationship between the university, students, and teachers. Our indifference would mean death for independent voices on campus.