Sathyabama: A Doomed University

The recent suicide by Vivek, a student of St. Joseph's College of Engg., while shocking, was something that was waiting to happen. It was a matter of time and it happened to be Vivek on the 1st of June, 2009. Jeppiaar and his family of thugs who run the cluster of institutions under the Sathyabama University umbrella, have, over the years, managed to establish an identity of running a "disciplined" institution. Now, in all honesty, this was probably the one attribute that set them apart in a sea of mediocre engineering institutions that had mushroomed during the 90's. Enforcing discipline cost them nothing and was a powerful tool that could create a much better brand value than actually having a great infrastructure or faculty of a high calibre. This idea instantly caught on among the parents, who, upon depositing their children, particularly daughters, into one of these institutions, could sit back, relax and expect to collect a well "disciplined" product at the end of the assembly line in 4 years' time. In reality, they were a bunch of fat, rich, control maniacs with a chequered past, trying to create a fear psychosis amongst the enrolled students in an attempt to woo the parents for their money. The only driving motivation for them was, and continues to be, making money by the truck loads, and to this family goes the credit of making engineering education truly a dirty business.

The idea of discipline is a funny one. There is a faint line that separates enforcing values and being sadistic - say, the difference between Singapore and North Korea, and that line was crossed a while back by these control freaks. A look at the Draconian rule system, reveals some sick minds at work. Preventing boys and girls from talking to each other accomplished nothing other than reveal a medieval mind set. I personally know of many relationships that blossomed even in that barren landscape of stifling regulations. There were "squads" assigned to identify and round up defaulters and bring them to the notice of the management for corrective action. In my first year, I was shocked to see a lecturer going around, checking the faces of the guys for stubble and asking the ones with an unacceptable amount of facial hair to go shave. The chosen ones rushed to the hostel, borrowed their friends' razors and returned with a clean shaven face to try and complete the University final examination within the allotted 3 hours. I'll leave it to you to decide which was more weird: imposing an arbitrary, Talibanesque "no-stubble-during-finals" rule or having a member of the staff enforce it.

Vivek, the dead student, was not a saint - he had plagiarized in an examination and deserved to be disciplined. But punishment, if not constructive and reinforcing some basic values, can have dire consequences and we have witnessed one such instance now. I was involved, in my capacity as a teaching assistant, in a similar case at a University in the US in 2003. The student who was caught in the act was given a hearing (after scheduling one, taking into account everyone's schedules) by the Dean of the school, a student counsellor, the professor and self. He argued passionately how he was not wrong. After that hearing, he was given a failing grade, a warning, advice on ethical behavior and was asked to repeat the course. Compare this with the modus operandi of the moral hooligans running the circus at S'bama. The idea of punishment, according to the goons, is making a student stand in front of the "office" for days on end, denying him a hearing or a fair trial. If found in breach of their extremely narrow definition of good behavior, one is perceived to be guilty, found guilty, declared guilty and then punished, which would usually involve slapping some arbitrary fine and bringing in the parents from some remote corner of the state for a compulsory meeting with the principal/director.

With due respect to the departed soul, he was a fool on two counts. First, for having selected this institution after this became a deemed University, which essentially means they are a law unto themselves. The only reason people (I mean the students) put up with all the nonsense that was dished out in the name of discipline was because the degree would be issued by the University of Madras and that nearly made up for the inconveniences. But again, as mentioned earlier, this could have been as much a result of his parents influencing the decision based on their sense of security around these institutions. For the money that they would have plonked down, they might as well have got their son admitted into a real college elsewhere. Secondly, I blame Vivek for committing suicide for such a trivial issue. Couldn't he realize that there is more to life beyond the confines of the engineering Abu Ghraib that he found himself in? Perhaps he didn't.

This incidence, I'm sure, will die a quick, silent death and will be interred along with the numerous other offences, mainly financial, that the management have committed in the past as a matter of routine. Justice has a price tag and no price is every beyond the capabilities of these education Nazis with deep pockets. It will soon be business as usual at Sathyabama Deemed University. To the parents who silently approve of the methods of these maniacs, it could very well be your son or daughter that could be the next victim. This college came up with sadistic rules while they were under the University of Madras. Now that they are on their own, there is no stopping them from unleashing a reign of terror. It is not as if the students attending other colleges end up turning anti-social. Hell, none of you ever attended Sathyabama!