AMU Vice Chancellor has scored a self-goal
The Aligarh Muslim University has landed itself in a self-made controversy by denying undergraduate female students access to its famous Maulana Azad library. And, if the ban on access was bad enough, the reasons given are worse. The AMU Vice Chancellor, lieutenant General Zameeruddin Shah, has justified the move by saying that the library suffers from lack of adequate space and thus would get too crowded if female undergraduate students are allowed there.
He has added that the situation becomes bad because for every girl who would come to the library, a number of boys would follow suit. Both are shocking remarks. The first is that if the library has a space crunch, surely it is the duty of the university to enhance the space rather than cut out access to undergraduate female students. Moreover, how is it that male undergraduate students, who are allowed into the library, do not cause over-crowdingIJ The second remark is petty and sexist and is not expected of academics holding the high position that lt General Shah does. He may have said it in jest, but even so it is unfortunate. It is not surprising that women activists and political leaders of various hues have seized the occasion to condemn the AMU and the Vice Chancellor.
With the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development seeking an explanation from the Vice Chancellor on his statements, the controversy will remain alive for a while. The larger issue here has to do with gender discrimination and not the supposed lack of space in the library. The university — considered one of the finest in the country — has taken pains to emphasise that no such bias exists and that post-graduate female students have complete access to the library. It is true that there is no bar on female students pursuing their post-graduate studies, from using the Maulana Azad library. This makes the ban on undergraduate female students all the more baffling. Does the university believe that undergraduate female students are not serious about studies and that their only purpose is to attract male students into the libraryIJ
The Aligarh Muslim University’s decision goes against the very aim of establishing the university — which was to provide quality higher education to all sections of society with an emphasis on the minorities, especially women students, and give the latter opportunities at par with their male counterparts. There had been unsavoury episodes in the past, at times politicall in nature, during which the university’s image had taken a hit. The fresh controversy is the last thing it needed. However, we should not fall into the trap of stereotyping the gender discrimination into a ‘minority-related’ one where women are ‘suppressed’. There have been cases of other prominent, ‘liberal’ universities that have given a raw deal to female students. It’s the mindset that is the problem. Hopefully, the AMU will do a re-think.