Express View on Jindal university and free speech: Stain on campus
22 February 2024 | The Indian Express
University administrations — public and private — across the country have, in recent years, unfortunately not always stood up for academics and students when the latter have questioned the dominant ideas and powers that be. Teachers and students have been arrested, discussions, even movie screenings stalled or called off. Academics at prestigious private universities that claim to champion liberal values have been forced out and university authorities have not refrained from inviting the police on campus. In this milieu, OP Jindal Global University (JGU) seemed to have, quietly and without fuss, created a space even as others in its neighbourhood ceded it. However, the JGU administration’s action against two students for “putting up posters and engaging in conversation” that involved “derogatory and provocative words” flies against its own record and stated principles. More importantly, it undermines the idea and promise of a university. It’s a stain on the campus.
The action against the students was in response to posters and discussion on the Ram temple at Ayodhya. Reportedly, the framing of the discussion was critical of the dominant politics surrounding the consecration. On February 10, the students were suspended for a semester and late that night, they were “evicted” from campus housing…