Central University of Kerala: Too many committees, too little work

It’s time Central University of Kerala (CUK) took responsibility for the state of affairs on campus. Its administration can no longer take refuge in the excuse of it being an “infant university”. CUK is a fairly new university, having been established according to the Central Universities Act of 2009. Apart from all the problems a new university undergoes, the real issues that affect the student population on campus are understood to be self-created and further complicated by the administration. 

In the wake of the #MeToo campaign giving voice to sexual harassment and the controversial list naming and shaming alleged sexual predators made by Raya Sarkar, feminists across Indian academia raised their voice on the issue. Unfortunately, in CUK, such talks and discussions seem to have awakened a different reaction – fear – of being questioned about evading responsibility. 

The state of the anti-sexual harassment cell in the university is dismal, and reflects ignorance and lack of sincerity in addressing sexual abuse in academic spaces. The sexual harassment committee in our university is called SPARSH (Sensitisation, Prevention and Redressal of Sexual Harassment), and it fails to follow the democratic guidelines set by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to prevent sexual harassment in workplaces and universities.  

The only time students hear about SPARSH is on the induction day and then never again. No sensitisation programme of any sort is conducted whatsoever. “There is a sub-committee called the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC),” said Swapna S Nair, chairperson of the ICC, which consists of four faculty members, three non-teaching staff and one external member, and is constituted for a period of three years.

A shocking fact is that the administration is not willing to have a committee which has student representation, as the UGC guidelines recommend. The lack of transparency in procedures is worrying, apart from the hush-hush tone which is used when it comes to talking about sexual harassment on campus. 

The term of the current committee, which comprises three women teaching staff including the chairperson and one male faculty, will expire in January 2018. Apart from that, two female non-teaching staff and the engineer of the university are also part of the panel. The external member is Dr Sumathi Haridas. If anyone wants to file a complaint, it should either be handed over directly to the vice-chancellor or the chairperson of SPARSH. The committee is to be summoned within 10 days. An interim report should be prepared within 60 working days after interacting with the accused and the complainant. The enquiry should be wrapped up and a final report submitted within 90 days.

However, two complaints filed with the ICC this year have not yet been resolved. When asked about the final report of the cases, chairperson Nair said: “You’ll get to know about the findings if and whether any action is taken.” 

The ordeal narrated by the one of the complainants unravels not only the inefficiency, but also the bias of SPARSH members in handling sexual harassment cases. The first complaint was lodged by a research scholar from the university. Ansiya Rahiman, a student who is currently pursuing her M.phill in Tata Institute for Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, told Newslaundry:

“When I joined CUK for PhD studies, the professor whom I wanted to conduct my research under had already taken the maximum number of scholars, as per the new UGC 2016 regulations. Hence, I filed a petition in the Kerala High Court saying that the notification was not in place when the varsity held admissions. The court in August 2016 appointed a new professor, V Nagaraj, as my guide. Subsequently, I enrolled under Nagaraj in December.

“Since two of my papers were taught by Nagaraj, I used to spend 3 to 4 hours with him every day in his cabin and I was the lone student. I was quite okay in the initial days as I didn’t notice anything unusual and concentrated on taking notes. But, I gradually started realising that he was not looking at my face while teaching me. I was wearing an Anarkali suit one day and he kept staring at my breasts for hours. From the next day, I began wearing a shawl and then noticed him staring at my stomach. Even after I glared at him, he continued doing this.

“One day I couldn’t stand it anymore and told him ‘sir, I am not comfortable with the fact that you are not looking at my face’. He tried to deny this saying, ‘no… no… there is nothing of that sort”. The whole thing happened in a span of seven days. As he continued to harass me, I told him at the start of the second week that he didn’t have to teach me anymore. 

“I thought twice before filing a complaint as I was going to get married soon. I approached one of the faculty members, Jaya Prakash, and he assured me that he would talk to professor Nagaraj. Later, Prakash said the professor had alleged that I was not good in studies. He cooked up this allegation despite the fact that I was the first-rank holder in the interview for admission and had an international publication to my credit.”

What the complainant described later will reveal to you the existence of a caucus within the department. 

“There is an unofficial internal committee in the male-dominated department which is intended to suppress whatever complaints come up there. This committee made an internal resolution and told me that I can either continue my studies under the same professor, as he has assured he won’t repeat what he did, or take a transfer to another professor, Shyam Prasad. I was discouraged from filing a complaint with certain statements made by other professors in personal conversations that ‘the professor belongs to marginalised community and he is in his probation period. Also, he has a mother and two kids and he is the sole earning member in his family.’

” I left for home on January 23, 2017, for my engagement and the professor started poking me on Facebook in March. It was the limit, and I took a screenshot of all the poke notifications and filed a complaint with SPARSH in April. I also sent him an email requesting to release my research fellowship as soon as possible. Since I didn’t get any reply for my first email, I sent him another one saying that I will complain to the higher authorities if he doesn’t release the money. What he did was ridiculous. He took a screenshot of my email and complaint to the vice-chancellor and said I was threatening him. When the professors cautioned him the consequences of his act, he released the fellowship for the month of January, I still haven’t received my February fellowship though. 

“A few days after I lodged the complaint, SPARSH chairperson Swapna S Nair came to me and spoke for 45 minutes. She asked me to submit all evidence and said they would take care of it. Meanwhile, a testimony by a first-year Master’s student shook me further. She said Nagaraj had been harassing all the girls in his class ever since he joined the university. The harassment was in the same manner as he used to look at the breasts of female students who sit on the front benches. Though I instructed them to lodge a separate complaint, they approached their class tutor and the HoD later. The so-called internal committee appeared again, and took the professor’s side, insisting that ‘Nagaraj denied the allegations saying he has three sisters and he won’t do such things’. However, the demand put forth by the students – that professor Nagaraj shouldn’t take any courses from now on – was agreed to by the department.

“I never heard from SPARSH after the meeting with the chairperson. In April, I had to go to the university for a migration certificate as I had cleared the entrance examination at TISS. I called up Nair because I wanted my Transfer Certificate asap and asked her about the status of my complaint. ‘I have written it in the paper whatever has been found based on the evidences and submitted to the VC,’ Nair told me. She further talked about the two options that I had been given – ‘you can either continue your studies under another professor or go with whatever you feel like,’ Nair told me. I quit the university and joined TISS in June.”

Newslaundry reached out to professor Nagaraj. “These allegations have been already inquired into by the committee. I come from an economically poor background. The committee has done what they found right. If anybody has a complaint about it, let them go and file a petition in court,” he said. When asked about the Facebook incident, the professor said: “I was told by my students that a research scholar has posted something against me on Facebook. I then opened my profile with my spouse. I have a wife and two kids, and four sisters. Why should I do all that?”

Newslaundry also reached out to the ICC head. “The inquiry has been done in this particular case and we submitted the report to the vice-chancellor a in August. He is responsible for taking action,” Nair said. When asked about the “internal committees” that handle cases before they reach the ICC, Nair responded: “There are a lot of other committees such as anti-discrimination committee and all. Every complaint doesn’t come under the purview of ICC, so other committees handle them.” The email sent to the university hasn’t received any response yet. 

It is high time we have a functional Gender Sensitisation Committee against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) which ensures impartiality, transparency and accountability on the part of the administration and timely redressal and prevention of sexual harassment. 

Students and the newly formed students’ council of CUK are planning to move a petition for the formation of GSCASH in the face of clear inadequacy of the existing mechanism to address grievances. “We will soon make sure that the problem of unhealthy gender practices on campus is addressed by forming a GSCASH as soon as possible. We have decided to move a petition to the V-C in this regard,” said Jesudas Nedupuri, the council president.

Lack of seriousness from the administration’s side in addressing sexual harassment complaints is a serious threat to healthy gender relations and sexual security of our university spaces, and we will have no more of it.

If you’re a student, professor or an alumnus and want to write/share how your college deals with sexual harassment, the systems to check it or the lack thereof, email us at campus@newslaundry.com