Three ITB lecturers and two students expelled<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Three junior lecturers and two students have
\nbeen expelled from the prestigious Bandung Institute of
\nTechnology (ITB) following the controversy over the death of a
\nfreshman during an initiation week program recently.<\/p>\n
The lecturers, identified as Ade, Singgih and Aulia, used to
\nteach Building Design and Structure at the Department of
\nArchitecture, while the two students, Muhammad Ridjal and Budhi
\nSumarso, were senior students of the Department of Physics.<\/p>\n
The head of the Department of Architecture, Sri Rahayu, told
\nreporters yesterday that the ITB did not expel the lecturers.<\/p>\n
The institute merely decided not to extend their contracts,
\nshe said, without explaining the reasons for the decision.<\/p>\n
\"It is an internal problem between the Department of
\nArchitecture and the three lecturers,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Sri Rahayu also said that the three architecture lecturers
\nwere hired on a contract basis, and that their performance was
\nevaluated every semester.<\/p>\n
\"They have been here for one semester and we never promised to
\nextend the contracts, or appoint them permanent lecturers,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Sources said that the three lecturers were actually expelled
\nbecause of their involvement in the initiation week at the
\narchitecture department.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Indra Djati Sidi, the deputy rector in charge of
\nstudents affairs, said the two students were expelled because
\nthey went beyond the customary practices of initiation weeks.<\/p>\n
These two students ordered freshmen to eat grass and forced
\nthem to do strenuous physical activities, Indra said.<\/p>\n
Indra said the institute had not reached the decision
\narbitrarily. The rector and his deputies held three meetings and
\nset up a commission to launch further investigation on the case.<\/p>\n
The students have also been questioned, Indra said. \"I believe
\nthis is a just decision,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Copies of the rector's decrees expelling Muhammad Ridjal and
\nBudhi Sumarso from ITB, to be effective as of the start of the
\nsecond semester of the 1995\/1996 academic year, which is next
\nmonth, were made available to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
However, none of the decrees, signed by Indra Djati Sidi,
\nspelled out the grounds for the decision taken.<\/p>\n
Zaki Tiffany Lazuardian, a 18-year-old freshman at the
\ndepartment of physics died early last month after joining the
\nrigorous 12-day initiation period organized by his seniors in the
\ndepartment.<\/p>\n
At least two other students also had to be hospitalized, while
\nthe ITB's polyclinic reported that 176 first year students sought
\nmedical treatment after taking part in the initiation week.<\/p>\n
Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro has
\ndismissed requests that the annual campus initiation program be
\nabolished.<\/p>\n
Wardiman described the death as an \"accident\" and said it
\nshould not be used as ground to abolish a system which, he said,
\nwas still the best way of introducing first year students to the
\nrealities of college life.<\/p>\n
The expulsion of the two students has raised criticism among
\nstudents organization in ITB.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the communication forum for students organization
\n(FKHJ) Adi Purboyo, and coordinator for the ITB student congress
\nLucky Djuniardi separately said the rector's decision had not
\nsolved the problem. (17\/imn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/three-itb-lecturers-and-two-students-expelled-1447893297",
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