The administration of MIT’s World Peace University (WPU), Kothrud campus, which had temporarily suspended two first-year students after they were allegedly found to be invovled in “uncultured behaviour” and had shamed them by revealing their names through a public announcement and posting notices on campus, has defended the action, saying that it was necessary to make other students aware of the consequences. Advertising According to the administration, the students were allegedly found committing “improper acts” on the institute lawns. The students as well as their batchmates have denied the accusation. D P Apte, Registrar, MIT-DPU, has attracted flak from the student community in the University for revealing the students’ names. Apte said that was how the administration had dealt with such incidents in the past. “Naming the students was necessary in order to make the other students aware of the incident and the action taken. Otherwise, they would not understand the seriousness of this misconduct,” added Apte. Advertising “We have done our duty by informing their parents. There is nothing wrong in naming them. We have dealt with similar cases before and whenever there was something serious, we have put up notices with the names of students,” said Apte. Students on the campus said they were shocked by the way the administration had handled the issue. “When the announcement was made on the public address system, the boy and the girl were in the class. Imagine the kind of shame the students must have felt. They will have to live with this stigma for the rest of their term at the university. It was a completely inappropriate and pathetic move by the administration,” said a second-year student from WPU. Students pointed out that a ‘Dos and Don’ts handbook’, issued by the university, had laid down several controversial rules banning “inappropriate/unsuitable apparels” such as ripped jeans, those in colours other than dark blue and black or excessively faded; hair that may look untidy, or “showing off more than friendly closeness” with other students. Apte said, “We have given every student a handbook of Dos and Don’ts. Any action that violates these norms is uncultured. There are certain norms that are followed in general, like not getting too close and how a boy should behave with a girl. This university has its own culture. Anything that goes against this can’t be tolerated on the campus,” he said.

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