A kid-glove treatment

The principal has played a shameful role by all accounts in the recent violence that swept through the Eden College campus, and her conduct merits scrutiny rather than moving her to the sidelines.

In the first place, she stood idly by while JCD cadres summarily evicted some 20 students from the hostel. Her initial dereliction of duty was compounded when she ordered the college hostel closed in order to nip the ensuing protests in the bud, even though exams were still ongoing, and many students had no place else to go.

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Finally, when this highhanded action of hers led to major demonstrations, she haughtily refused to even meet with the aggrieved students to hear their very legitimate complaints, made inappropriate comments denigrating the demonstrators to the press, and permitted the goons to physically assault the demonstrators, sending three of them to the hospital.

There is no word other than disgraceful to describe Prof. Firoza's conduct. She has virtually acted as 'an agent' of the goons, who have imposed a reign of terror over the campus, abandoning her duty as custodian of the students in her charge.

In addition to all this, there is the more fundamental question of the rampant criminality that has polluted the campus, with the goons squad selling space in the hostel and even admission into the college for money. This kind of criminality could not have occurred without the connivance of some in the administration, and as the head of the administration, the principal must take the ultimate responsibility.

To restore any semblance of dignity to the office of the principal, the authorities need to suspend her, and initiate a thorough investigation into the whole affair, and if need be, draw up proceedings against her.