Delhi University – out of bounds for its own students and teachers!

A University should be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning.

~Benjamin Disraeli.

Prof Dinesh Singh, the Lord Saheb Vice Chancellor of Delhi University, it seems, has promulgated a new Farmaan – ‘no vehicle of anyone except the Vice-Chancellor’s is permitted in the premises of Vice-Chancellor’s office’, which incidentally apart from having Delhi University Administrative block and the Examination Branch also houses public utility places like the State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, the Post Office, General Store etc. As a result one can see the vehicles lined up on the University Marg, leading from Mall Road to Malkaganj.

Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor blocked the road in front of the Vice-Chancellor’s office, towards the big park, on the western side having entry from the Botany Department, to be used exclusively for himself. An archaic and foolishly feudal step, something which even during the days when the building was the British Viceroy’s residence, did not happen. Interestingly, with the elaborate bureaucratic procedures in which the Vice-Chancellor's PA and four other staff are involved, it is next to impossible for any teacher to meet the VC, let alone any student try so.

The tendency to barricade and restrict the Vice-Chancellor’s office has unfortunately been taking place since the tenure of Prof Moonis Raza and it seems every incumbent has been worse than the previous one in this regard. But the present Vice-Chancellor has broken all records in ‘exclusivity’, and it is difficult to see whether the reason for this mentality lies in his feudal thinking or St Stephen’s complex.

The question is whether such an order is at all required? It also raises the basic proposition, ‘whose University is it anyway?’

The answer to the second question will automatically answer the first. The word university is derived from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium, which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars." It is implied that the most important part of the University are the students and the teachers. To restrict University campus areas and places for use of only the University Authorities is simply un-academic and abusive. Someone rightly said, “The University brings out all abilities, including incapability.”

My firm belief and forthright opinion is that such an order and moreover this mentality should be opposed tooth and nail, both by the teachers and the students. A defunct Students Union and an ineffective Teachers body have proven to be of great convenience to the “Lord Saheb” and it is upon the general teachers and students to contribute towards letting the University remain for students and teachers rather than be exclusive domain of privileges of the functionaries.