KIIT Suicide Row: How ‘Othering’ in University Spaces Impacts Students
Rituparna Patgiri | 22 February 2025 | The Times of India
Universities are often heralded as liberal and progressive spaces which promote ideas of equality and social justice. But they do not exist in isolation, and are representative of the society that we live in. The recent death of a Nepali student at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubaneswar, Odisha has once again highlighted how universities are microcosms of existing social hierarchies in society. A 20-year-old student from Nepal was found dead in her hostel room last week. While the reasons for her death are still unclear, it has been alleged that she was harassed by a male student from the same institute. Reports speculate that the male student was the deceased student’s ex-boyfriend who physically and verbally abused her…