Jadavpur V-C urges students to shift activism from walls to social media

The vice-chancellor of Kolkata's Jadavpur University has launched a fresh initiative to curb wall graffiti across the campus, while simultaneously urging students to channel their activism toward social media platforms. The move aims to preserve the university's decades-long commitment to intellectual freedom without compromising the physical upkeep of the institution.

The administration has acknowledged that student engagement and expression remain vital to the university's character. However, officials believe that migrating such discourse to digital spaces would allow the campus community to maintain its tradition of robust debate while keeping the grounds clean and aesthetically maintained.

The university leadership has emphasized that both faculty and students bear responsibility for upholding institutional values. By leveraging social media, the administration argues that student voices can reach wider audiences and foster more substantive dialogue than traditional wall messages, which often face rapid removal or obscuration.

The initiative reflects broader challenges faced by Indian educational institutions in balancing campus activism with administrative concerns over infrastructure maintenance. Jadavpur University, known for its vibrant student culture and political engagement, has positioned this directive as a modernization of how its community practices free expression rather than a restriction on it.