On Wednesday, 22nd January, 2025, students gathered for the third consecutive day in the Atrium during the lunch hour as part of ongoing protests against Ashoka University’s new security protocol. For the first time, protesting students marched outside the atrium to raise slogans around the main campus. The third day of protests saw a significant increase in the number of protestors with over 200 students marching to the Vice Chancellor’s (VC) office on the second floor of the administration block.
At around 1:30 p.m., an Ashoka University Student Government (AUSG) member called upon gathered students to walk towards the library steps while sloganeering. This was to make the mobilisation “more visible” to the larger student body. Students began to move towards the library to chants of “Jawab do, jawab do, DSA jawab do” (Answer us, answer us, DSA answer us), and “Vapas lo, vapas lo, Security measures vapas lo” (take them back, take them back, take the security measures back). Several students noticed members of the administration photographing and taking videos of the protestors.
Speaking at the steps of the library cafe, Insha Husain (UG’26), UG Councillor and President of the United Students Front (USF), addressed concerns about protestors facing repercussions from the administration, saying that the student movement has adopted a “moral and principled stance.”
She reiterated the civil nature of the movement and assured students it could not be narrativised against them, stating that “[they had] been non-violent and civil throughout.” Workers being inconvenienced by the protest was also brought up. On this, Husain mentioned the long-term benefits of the movement for the working staff. She said that the larger goal of the protests was to slow down a larger “neoliberal project” of the university.
Ahana Walanju (UG’26), HoR Speaker, cited the events of the previous year’s screening of Ram ke Naam, where students were tracked down through emails sent to the Documents Centre. She asserted that surveillance and profiling are not new phenomena in Ashoka University, making this a fight against prolonged surveillance, be it through metal detectors or through calling “certain students from certain backgrounds” to their offices.
Husain then spoke about Secretary of the Employee Welfare Committee and USF, Razeen Ayesh’s (UG’26) experience of the DSA questioning her on the sudden political consciousness of the student body. This emphasised that the administration had already begun profiling and building narratives around the student body, thinking them to be apolitical and unable to organise on their own, she said.
The gathering near the library saw an influx of students, working staff and faculty emerge from inside the library cafe and academic blocks to listen to the speeches by AUSG members. Aditi Warrier (ASP’25), AUSG President, summarised the objectives and motivations of the protest for all the “new faces.” She also spoke on the bureaucratic processes in place for student-administration communication: “Talk to this person, talk to that person, [...] until we don’t get answers.”
Warrier and Walanju mentioned that despite constant emails since Monday, the AUSG has not received a response from the Vice Chancellor, Somak Raychaudhury, who is currently participating in the Kolkata Literature Festival and will be travelling to Jaipur for the Literature Festival there.
Husain and Walanju then urged students to proceed back to the atrium to gather outside the second-floor office. The body of students marching back from the library cafe appeared to be much larger than the earlier group, with The Edict estimating around 200-250 students being part of the procession.
Students started to gather outside the doors to the administration office. As AUSG members entered inside, Dhruvajyoti Sahu (UG’27), UG Councilor, urged the gathered students to not normalize the aforementioned bureaucratic measures. Sahu said the administration did not treat the students like adults, referring to Shalini Mehrotra, Dean of Student Affairs, walking off after briefly addressing the students on Tuesday. “They don’t treat us with respect,” he added.
An AUSG member confirmed that the Chancellor was present inside his office at the time the students arrived at the doors. On returning from the Chancellor’s office, Sneha Menon, co-head of USF’s writing department, said the Chancellor spoke to members of the USF and AUSG and allegedly told them “his post is completely ceremonial, and he has nothing to do.”
With none of the administration members addressing the student body, Warrier read out the AUSG’s email titled ‘Call to Address Students,’ which had been sent to the VC earlier in the day. Warrier reminded the student body of his absence, saying “everybody appears to be getting his attention except for his own university.”
(Edited by Fatema Tambawalla, Madhumitha GI and Srijana Siri)
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