On Monday, 20th January 2024, Ashoka University Student Government (AUSG) members met with Vice Chancellor (VC) Somak Raychaudhary, following the announcement of the campus’s newest security protocols. Later, at a sit-in staged in the admin block, AUSG President Aditi Warrier said the VC confirmed the measures were instituted to curb substance abuse on campus.
However, they brought up that these measures violate privacy and do not curb safety issues, in fact they are more harmful. AUSG members also mentioned previously unresolved issues which the VC acknowledged – housing issues in RH 6/7, ramping up the Ashoka Centre for Well Being (ACWB).
When alternatives to the new security measures such as rehabilitation were proposed, the VC said that the security measures will not be rolled back and baggage scanning will not be stopped, even if alternatives for mitigating substance abuse are provided.
The VC also admitted to the purposeful, administration-directed watering of the atrium as a way to stop students from gathering there, instead saying that there are certain designated spaces where students can gather, such as outside the mess or inside student dorms. He did agree however, to put a stop to the measure.
The gathering ended with students taking their protest to the second floor of the Admin block.
Sustained Protest Against the New Measures
This came on the heels of the meeting on Sunday, 19th January 2025, where nearly 200 students gathered in the atrium to protest the newly instituted baggage scanners and metal detectors. Several representatives of the Ashoka University Student Government and United Students Front (USF) addressed the gathering, expressing their dissent. Tanisha Iyer (UG’26), USF’s HoD Logistics and Communication, termed the security measures “anti-student.” They treat students like “products” and “children,” she said.
Insha Husain (UG ’26), UG Councillor and President, USF highlighted the importance of students setting their own narrative, “whether it be a press release or [...] talking to the media in a personal capacity.”
“We need to be sure that we are very firm on our stance in terms of surveillance, in terms of the demands we are demanding and why we are demanding them,” she added. AUSG plans to set their stance “democratically.” They also intend to reach out to independent media at an opportune time, to continue to pressure the administration. Husain requested students to reach out to faculty members “on an individual and collective basis” to get their support. The gathering concluded with a rendition of Hum Dekhenge.
Protests against Ashoka’s new security measures have rocked the campus in its first weekend since reopening, but the student mobilisation began even before students moved back into campus.
At around 10pm on Thursday, 16th January 2025, AUSG held its first student body-wide open online meeting. The Campus Life Ministry (CLM) announced via mail that the meeting would be held to discuss the student body’s ‘collective response’ to the new measures. The open meeting came in the aftermath of a meeting between the AUSG and administration members earlier in the day, the first such correspondence since the public announcement of the security policy. The turnout of over 120 people included students from across batches.
Members of the AUSG reiterated their stance opposing the protocols and demanding the roll back of the security measures, calling upon the student body to contribute through consistent pressure on the administration.
Urja Hansraj (ASP ‘25), Campus Life Minister, elaborated in the open meeting about the administration’s lack of consultation with anyone from the AUSG in the afternoon call: “They were again only willing to talk about implementation. Throughout today’s meeting, [administration members] continuously undermined the students’ disagreement and the fact that most of us have an issue with it”.
Hansraj also mentioned the dismissal of the online petition, which had over 600 signatories at the time of the AUSG meeting with the administration; “They said there were still about 2,500 students who didn’t express disagreement, and anecdotally spoke about receiving emails about a few students being in support of the measures. They were very sure the entire student body was not against it, and there was not enough evidence to say the entire student body was dissatisfied”. The petition has over a thousand signatures now, from students, alumni, and faculty members.
According to Ahana Walanju (UG ‘25), Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR), “They thought we were okay with the protocols, and only had issues with the lack of communication regarding its implementation”.
Samarth Jain (ASP ‘25), Vice President of the AUSG, also told the student body “The administration said all of our questions were too existential and thus not appropriate to consider.” Jain mentioned that Dean Mehrotra was insistent on fully implementing the policy before taking feedback from the student body, and continued to turn down the potential for debate regarding the implementation of the policy itself. As reported in The Edict’s first article covering the security protocol, there was no feedback form in the initial announcement of the policy, and none have been provided at the time of this article.
Hansraj, Walanju and Jain all reaffirmed that substance abuse seemed to remain the administration members’ main cause for concern, and has been so over years of communication regarding potential security measures on campus.
Student Unity at Atrium
Several students spoke while gathered at the Atrium. Vikram Tapadia (ASP ‘25) said that if action is not taken now, administrative measures will reach the point where “guards will say you cannot go out for your own safety.” He added that “even the parents have started talking about it” and that “Shalini [Mehrotra] doesn’t have to go through scanners, Somak [Raychaudhury] doesn’t have to go through the scanners […], we do.”
Nandiinii Gupta (UG’24) on behalf of Kalinga Magazine called for solidarity between clubs and societies which keep “the university running and give sole energy and life to the university.” On behalf of Kalinga, she said to “talk to your club heads” and said that Kalinga has “started designing posters, took risks putting posters up in the atrium” where they “ran into guards.”
UG Council member Razeen Ayesh (UG’26) said, “This movement, it’s very easy for the Admin to make it seem like it’s something else” as though students are “doing it for their personal benefits.” She said that in the past the Admin has “personally targeted students and threatened them to not take any political stance” referring to those protesting for Palestine at the 2024 convocation ceremony.
The admin's stance on the security measures “serves their PR interests and do not care for the benefit and well-being of students,” continued Ayesh, while CASH and CADI issues along with “a crazy, rampant mental health crisis on campus” go unnoticed. Furthermore she said that what is needed is “consistent effort, and that the Admin cannot do whatever the hell they want to do with this university.”
Husain spoke with vitriol in opposition to the restrictions placed by the Ashoka administration on protest locations. Claiming that “university is built like a Bangalore tech start up” and that the “Atrium is our space”, she insisted that student mobilisation would continue to reclaim student ownership of their own campus spaces
At 2:24pm, Ahana announced that the Reigstrar would be addressing the student body in 5 minutes. After several delays. all students present at the site then moved into the administration’s office and the HDFC boardroom.
Eventually, Registrar Sachin Sharma came outside and asked all students to leave. Sharma stated that “If you wanted to communicate anything, it had to be done through the Student Government”. This statement was repeated while AUSG members and other students present chanted “Where is DSA (Dean of Student Affairs)?!” Sharma promptly left the gathering with students chanting “Shame! “Shame!”, as he jogged down the stairs and into his ground-floor office. At 3:05pm, Vineet Sabharwal, associated part-time with the Ashoka administration addressed the remaining students in the Atrium. He further repeated that all concerns from the student body must be routed through the student government, in writing.
As of 5:00pm, all administration offices on the ground floor and the second floor of the admin block are no longer accessible to students. There has also been an increase of security presence near the atrium. Lost and Found and the Office of Financial Aid will be reopened on 21st January according to the security present outside these offices. At 5:00 pm, a reading circle was hosted by the Savitri Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, inside the Atrium, discussing a paper on surveillance in Indian universities.
Late on the 20th, AUSG announced that sit-ins would take place at 1:20PM, every single day at the atrium until the students’ demands are met. It remains to be seen how the Ashoka administration will respond if the student unity shown on the 20th becomes an everyday occurrence.
[Edited by Vishnu Prakash]
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