Dear AUD administration,

Online classes and assignments are absolutely antithetical to the principle of social justice and any semblance of equity in a public university. It is based on the exclusion and it would be delusional to think otherwise. That is what is so wrong about it. It feels like an injustice to us.

The University is operating on this dangerous assumption that everyone has access to this kind of knowledge and can be receptive of it. It is one thing for a private university to make that assumption but it carries a serious connotation and has entirely different consequences when Ambedkar University does it. The very publicness of knowledge is threatened.

The University is also assuming privilege in terms of caste, class, gender, region and tech-savviness and asking the marginalized to prove that they do not enjoy this privilege. How can you justify assuming privilege and health? Especially since marginalized voices are silenced everywhere, including in a class discussion. Students are made to feel that their exploitation is a personal problem or think that others have it worse than them, which makes it difficult to speak up about their struggles. When mobilization and communication is disrupted, it is hard to understand the magnitude of the issue. This is exactly why we need to be more empathetic in dealing with this.

The University has imposed this new discriminatory system of online classes and assessments on us so the burden of proof is on the administration, not on us. The onus is on the University to prove that all students have access to it and can be receptive of it enough for it to be an adequate substitute for the physical classroom. You can prove no such thing because it has no basis in reality. It is unethical to ask for testimonies as it gaslights students into thinking that it is their fault and they are just not trying hard enough. The fact that the administration did not even consult students before imposing this on us shows that you do not consider students as equal stakeholders in this University.

The draconian online classes only widen disparities. The varied social and economic backgrounds of the students restrict some from not just focusing but also from fully engaging with the technology used. It would be a major setback for the marginalized students and give some students an unfair edge over others. Some marginalized students simply cannot keep up with this new techno-education model as their lived experience with technology has been too little or nonexistent altogether. The technological experience is well received by only those who have had resources up until now to interact with it. Under existing circumstances, online classes only contribute to ethnic, class and regional disparities as not all students from all states have access to healthcare or internet connectivity. This drastically affects first-generation learners. For a lot of students, this lockdown is about survival due to economic and emotional stress so it is absurd to expect us to meaningfully engage with the online learning process. 

Another reason why these online classes are a menace is that students rely on the physical university structure for study material, internet access, meals and environment, without which it becomes extremely difficult to engage in studies. This particularly affects students stranded away from home and students in abusive homes. Most students have had to put up with a lot of additional housework but this is also gendered. Women students do more housework than men. The physical exhaustion has increased for us all manifold. Students are also caregivers for sick family members. 

Students are already facing mental health issues. This pandemic and the subsequent lockdown has only increased the anxieties that we have to deal with. The online classes, readings, assignments and internships are an additional burden that is also stress-inducing. General corona anxiety is also a very significant issue. On really bad days, it becomes so difficult to function that you can’t even muster up the energy to write an email saying “I can’t submit the assignments”. Yes, students have support systems. But what the lockdown has done is alienate us from our support systems. This is the kind of pressure that makes students contemplate suicide. A friend said, “It has almost become a tyranny, trying to take souls cheaply”. There should not be any institutional murders in this university. Let us not lose sight of the end goal, which is to contribute to society. How are marginalized students supposed to contribute to society if they don’t even survive?

The university’s response has been:

1. Counselling through EHSAAS- This is excellent and a welcome move. Please also acknowledge the barriers that prevent marginalized students from seeking help.
2. Medical services-  This is absolutely necessary and has a real impact. 
3. Data packs- The offer of reimbursement of money for data packs after university reopens is inadequate because students might have needed the money right then. Also, subscribing to a 4g plan and actually getting 4g are different things. If the administration can send a separate email about the shift to online classes, it should be just as easy to send an email about what it is doing to address the issues with online classes. How are students supposed to avail of this if they don’t even know about it? Significant information like this needs to be disseminated clearly in separate emails.
4. “I” grade and promotion of students- This is very significant but some students are still not aware of this. The “I” grade should be awarded automatically to all students who have not been able to submit the assignments.

The university’s response leaves much to be desired because all of this sounds empathetic but it is still not enough. It is like trying to put a band-aid on a sawed-off leg. The institution, despite finding means to help people devise a method to complete the semester, is in no position to grant immunity from the socio-economic effects that the pandemic gives rise to. The structural discrimination of online classes will have huge ramifications on the marginalized when it interacts with existing structural processes of discrimination. The result will be marginalized students dropping out. The outcome will be maintaining the status quo. We are not saying anything new, others like Marx and Ambedkar have already said it before us and we acknowledge their contributions.

What would an ideal institutional response look like? It means to act with empathy. The response should try to mitigate inequality rather than exacerbate it, especially in times of crisis when existing inequality manifests strongest. That means acknowledging the structural barriers that hinder the education of marginalized students and discourage building solidarities. It would involve not invisibilizing and undermining the sacrifice that marginalized students and their families have had to make to enable their education at this University. It would involve recognising that caregiving and housework is labour. It means understanding the worsening mental health of students. We recognise that inequality exists every day but it would be an abdication of our responsibility if we use that as an excuse to enable additional systemic discrimination. The job of the university administration is to remove barriers to education, not to invent and impose new forms of social exclusion. The administration needs to have a long hard look in the face of this pandemic about who it intends to educate and emancipate. A start to thinking about an institutional response would be to devise and implement the system of deprivation points like in JNU.

Since the faculty are the direct interface for students in the University structure, we invite the faculty to reflect on what it means to be empathetic. Please listen to your students and recognise their struggles, instead of invisibilizing them. Current affairs might just be news to you but students who are affected by it struggle every single day. Be mindful of your words. How is it fair to ask for academic efficiency on the part of your students when your pedagogy and teaching methods have changed drastically without everyone’s consent? Don’t ask students with minimal technological resources to submit written assignments through WhatsApp. Do not expect students to articulate their pain and suffering in English through emails. Please acknowledge the language barrier and the power dynamics between students and professors. Acknowledge that  Make a sincere effort to understand how problems with online learning manifest systemically and how they hinder education and then fight it like it is your fight. This is what it means to stand in solidarity with students.

Every single student deserves another chance. Nobody should have to prove or justify their inability to submit the assignments. If you want AUD to remain a diverse space, you have to cater to marginalized students, especially in times of crisis as they deserve a better opportunity to pursue studies. This is their university too and you have a responsibility towards them. Students should be able to learn at their own pace. If that means conducting classroom classes after the resumption of normalcy and conducting examinations for students who were not able to take them, then that is what the administration should offer. Invite suggestions from students.

This anguish is not just directed at this university. It is also a concern that is widespread for all those engaged with crushing systematic oppression. We empathize and stand in solidarity with our comrades from all other educational institutions who are resisting structural oppression and acknowledge your contributions. Your struggle is our struggle.

The onus of eradicating these differences should not just lie with the marginalized but the privileged too. And it starts by cancelling the grotesquely draconian online pedagogical system in the middle of a global pandemic, which only seeks to normalize it. People in positions of power have more of a responsibility to act with empathy and refuse the benefits that come from the system of oppression because it is always at the expense of someone else. We would like to remind everyone of an overused quote from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” This university was founded with the values and principles of Dr BR Ambedkar. We cannot justify giving up those values just because of this exceptional situation. 

Jai Bhim! Long live student unity!

From – Navya Sharma, Anshuman Tyagi and a comrade along with all concerned students of AUD, reach them out at discourseanddiatribe@gmail.com