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College is many things- it’s scary, exciting, full of hope, ambitions, did I mention it’s scary? Anyway, it’s way beyond just the attendance rules and 8:00 A.M lectures. You’re on the cusp of adulthood and there’s a newfound freedom in your life. Your professional goal used to be unique but now suddenly there are 150 kids who want to do the same thing as you. It’s a transformative experience where you’re discovering not only your interests and things you’re good at, but also figuring out what your identity is- who you are. It’s changing what you believe in and believing that ‘change is good’.
To summarize it for the people who can’t stand narrative sentences, college comes at a point in your life where what you need most is to feel safe amidst all the chaos around you. There are a hundred thousand kids with different backgrounds, lifestyles, experiences and everyone has something unique to offer. With such incredible diversity in a place full of emotionally turbulent fresh adults, expecting demeanor that demonstrates sensitivity from everyone is like expecting people in positions of power to act on what they said before there’s only a year left for electoral competition. But just because we don’t expect that behavior, should we accept it?
Higher educational institutions often serve as a representation of what the real world looks like. There’s no one to hold your hand and guide you all the time. There are certain things that you have to figure out for yourself through a constant process of learning and unlearning. This is why it’s not surprising that a lot of times the most horrific instances of discrimination on the grounds of caste, religion, and sexual orientation take place on college campuses. It’s very easy to shrug off accountability and make misconstrued statements like how a few isolated incidents cannot be testament to a systemic problem, without taking into account the sheer number of such incidents and the common pattern between them.
Only in the past five years, over 19,000 OBC and SC/ST students have dropped out of all the
IITs and IIMs- the country’s top schools. In the past two months alone, 2 incidents of suicides linked to experiences of caste-based discrimination have been reported. These statistics only reflect the experiences of students in India’s most prominent higher educational institutions. What happens in universities and colleges in the rest of the country is not only severely underreported but possibly much worse. The second-most targeted group on college campuses are queer students. Based on what sources told ThePrint, a lot of students consider the time they spend in college as the time they can truly act like themselves, away from the scrutiny of their parents and other homophobic members of their communities and societies. But this does not stop them from being on the receiving end of hostility and acts of micro-aggression from a lot of people on the campus. In a very prominent college of the country, the administration refused the students from forming a queer collective citing that since their institution is apolitical, such activities shouldn’t be endorsed on campus. This is just one of many examples of acts of subtle discrimination.
The biggest problem? College administrations. More often than not, when the student body is willing to bring change, it’s the administration that comes in their way. When you see people in authority actively demonstrating behavior that promotes exclusion, you stop expecting the regular joe’s to act differently. And that’s where the problem gets stuck in a dead end- when you accept and settle in. This is where creating change on a personal level becomes extremely crucial.
The term ‘inclusivity’ has been thrown around so much that it has almost become a political statement to even use it. It’s been made complicated for no reason. A simple thing like picking up a book to learn more about the experiences of disadvantaged communities is an act of inclusion. Everyone deserves to feel safe. Everyone deserves to feel like they belong. In the most transformative time of your life, if you experience exclusion and isolation, it can have an enormous negative impact on you for the rest of your life. This is why inclusivity is a necessity on college campuses. Acts of inclusion will allow campuses to become safe spaces of authentic expression and meaningful discourse.
In the longer run, it creates the path to a more equal, enlightened, and safe society, where diversity would be a strength instead of a threat.
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash
Meet the Author
Intrigued by the complexities of the intersecting dynamics of society, I developed an interest in political discourses and social justice movements from a young age and officially became the most unbearable 11 year-old. Flash forward to 7 years, I’m a climate activist and a journalism student.
Gauri
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