Will fight admin tooth and nail: JNUSU on increasing restrictions on spaces in campus

The JNU students gheraoed the SIS dean's office after a notice was issued stating that the SIS buildings will be locked down after 6 pm. This is the latest notice among a series of new rules issued by the administration about either locking down or shutting down various spaces on campus. 

The Dean promised to meet the students in the evening and the JNUSU invited students to be present in front of the office to ensure that the Dean listens to all their demands. A signature campaign is also being organised by the students to be submitted to the administration.

"The JNU administration s creating a truly unprecedented situation with a series of moves in the past week aimed at changing the character of the University. From an inclusive, democratic and liberal space it is becoming a place run on authoritarian diktats of the right-wing regime and its puppets," the JNUSU said in their statement.

The administration is going on an all-out attack, the JNUSU said. They listed out four major decisions taken by the administration in the last couple of days. From issuing a circular to shut down the students union office to a 'legitimately elected Union' to the shutting down of the SIS building, the administration has issued a series of circulars. "The Dean of the School of International Studies, Ashwini Mohapatra has instructed the closure of the buildings after 6 pm - an unprecedented step in the history of the university," they stated.

The administration has also allegedly asked the laundry shop owners on campus to vacate their shop withing 24 hours, "The administration is doing this to impose curfew timings and to bring inexpensive multinational food outlets to earn a profit while creating a class divide among students," the JNUSU said. 

"They are also supposedly launching a criminal investigation after students rallied to save PSR from closure," the students are alleging. The JNUSU said that the administration is turning the campus into a 'suffocating jail'. "The students of JNU have a rich tradition of defending campus democracy. All students will fight tooth and nail against the administration's move to shut down our spaces," the Union members said.