Amidst protests by students of South Asian University (SAU), Delhi, demanding an increase in Master's and PhD scholarships, two students have been expelled and three others were suspended yesterday (November 4) night.
Keshav Sawarn, a student of MA Sociology informed that out of the three students who were suspended, two of them were suspended for the academic year and the other till the end of the current semester. “It has come on SAU’s record that since October 13, 2022, you have been persistently involved in acts of indiscipline inconsistently with the relevant provisions of SAU Rules/ Regulations / Bye-laws. You have been consistently advised to adhere to the students’ Code of Conduct but you have failed to do so. You are therefore expelled from the University with immediate effect,” the expulsion orders stated.
The concerned students have also been directed to vacate the hostel immediately; no later than 24 hours from the receipt of the order. One of the students, Umesh, who has been expelled stated that he has hardly been active in the protest. “I haven’t been participating in the dialogues and discussions with the administration either. I participated in sloganeering every now and then and tried to make the students understand the nuances of protesting as I have been active in protest politics for the past few years,” he said. The protest is not being headed by just a single student, it is a collective protest, the student said. “But the university doesn’t even know who is involved in the protest and they want to target a few,” he added.
Among their major demands, students want an increase in scholarship stipend from the existing Rs 4,000 to Rs 7,000. Additionally, they have also demanded an internal body that will address the grievances of students and which is fairly representative of the students on campus.
Official word
On the expulsion orders, officials from the university informed EdexLive that they had given enough warnings to the students to follow the Code of Conduct of the university. “They were playing loud music and indulging in disturbing behaviour on the fourth floor which is the administration floor…so the university had to do something,” the university said.
Officials also stated that they had agreed to most of their demands that were put forth initially but the students “increased the stakes” later on. “The university tried to reason with them but they did not relent,” the officials said.
The students, while claiming that the expulsion and suspension orders were “illegal” according to bye-laws of the university, are now demanding the resignation of the President, Vice-President and Proctor of the university.
