Ashoka University founder flags problem of drugs on campus

NEW DELHI: The drug menace on university campuses is rarely ever acknowledged by administrators. Ashoka University co-founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani has created a flutter on social media by talking about the use of drugs by students at the university. Having raised questions on X, he told TOI that the student council at Ashoka must clarify their stand on substance abuse on the campus, referring primarily to marijuana or cannabis.

He had earlier said on X that the student council, called the student government (which he described as an instance of 'title inflation' prevalent in the corporate sector), is "under the impression that their mandate is to govern the university", adding that they do not work on student activities and student life.

"I am disappointed...that the student government has had little to say or do about the problem of substance abuse by students at Ashoka. I think it would add a lot of value to Ashoka if the student government were to focus on this and assist the administration in its ongoing efforts to tackle this issue. I have heard stories of deliveries of drugs by drones and room delivery in the hostels. I hope these stories are apocryphal," he said on X.

"Anecdotally, I can tell that the problem of substance abuse is widespread and growing across educational campuses all over India, including in several of the IITs and IIMs. And Ashoka is not immune to it," he said, in an email response to TOI. "After my tweet, I got several messages from parents of students in Ashoka and in other universities expressing gratitude for having raised this matter openly. It is the worst-kept secret in campuses across India and nobody was raising it openly for fear of reputation loss to the institution. However, if you don't acknowledge the problem, you will not be able to solve it - it is better to bite the bullet. Much of the drug consumption is limited to marijuana. However, there is some presence of harder drugs and that is more worrisome."

Asked what the Ashoka administration was doing to deal with the problem, he said: "The Ashoka management has been cognizant of this problem for the past several years and has been taking action in this area - from awareness to persuasion to warnings to inspections and disciplinary action (even expulsion in some cases). There is a graded matrix of nature of offences and actions to be taken. However, detection is difficult. Cooperation and support from the student government will help because they are in the hostels and they know what is going on."

These observations are an offshoot of a post on X by Bikhchandani in which he shared an article from 'Newslaundry' and quoted what a student had said - "No matter how much Ashoka boasts about its left-liberal values, but at the end of the day it is a capitalist institute...It cannot produce Bhagat Singhs or Umar Khalids."

"While I admire Bhagat Singh, as a parent, do I want my son to go to the gallows at the age of 22? I think most Ashoka parents will be relieved with this assessment of the university. Ashoka is boring - thank God," Bikhchandani quipped.

He said that parents do not pay fees at Ashoka so that their wards can do 'aandolans' and underlined his view that Ashoka does not boast of left-liberal values. "Some individuals at Ashoka might be. And they might want to paint all of Ashoka in that fashion because that is what they believe. Ashoka is merely a liberal arts and sciences university. It values openness and a spirit of inquiry," he said.

Responding to this, a student body called Leher Ashoka, which describes itself on X as "a liberal student political party", said, "Many courses at Ashoka teach students to critically think about the world, its institutions and status quo. Some students choose to apply their learning in practice, engaging in political activism."

"Mr Bikhchandani's scorn and dismissal of student activism is a huge disrespect to the rich culture of student politics India has seen. No university hoping to inculcate future leaders can do so by restricting political discourse to the classroom. He is right though that Ashoka isn't an ideological echo chamber. However, the very openness and spirit of inquiry that he speaks of is currently at threat due to him and the other founders being unable to protect academic freedom or provide answers for the same," added Leher Ashoka.

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