From Hansraj College to JNU and beyond: The spread of unfreedoms on campus

Events of the past week at Hansraj College sit uneasily with the idea and promise of the university. The college has clamped down on students, suspending at least 30 for “derogatory language” and “defaming the college” on social media. There is a widening gap between the lofty aim of nurturing critical inquiry on campus and the reality of a heavy-handed crackdown on any form of disagreement or dissent.

The college’s move against students allegedly criticising it was followed by an FIR against 13 persons, including some students who had already been suspended, for a fracas that took place during the institution’s annual festival earlier in the month. The action comes amid a university-wide tightening of restrictions and controls over students. On February 17, orders were issued by Delhi University prohibiting protests and public meetings without prior permission — this was triggered by a protest against a new set of UGC guidelines on dealing with discrimination. While the Delhi High Court observed on March 12 that “there cannot be a blanket ban”, on March 23, DU mandated that any protest in central university spaces would require a signed application submitted 72 hours in advance, along with names, affiliations, turnout, duration, logistics, and speakers. No doubt universities are obligated to ensure safety and security — but a prohibition that treats the assembly of students as an inevitable precursor to disorder cramps freedoms and collapses the distinction between dissent and disruption. The consequences are visible across campuses. The student is no longer seen as a participant in a shared intellectual enterprise but a subject to be managed by principals and VCs. This disquieting pattern goes beyond a single institution. From Jawaharlal Nehru University to Ashoka University and South Asian University, administrations deal with faculty and students repressively, stifling debate rather than encouraging it.

To treat protests as inherently suspicious signals an erosion of trust and a misunderstanding of what the campus, and the classroom, stand for. A university that fears its students risks hollowing out its intellectual core.