Academic violence and culture

Academic violence and culture

The deplorable tragedy that befell the Public Administration
College (STPDN), Sumedang, West Java -- involving the death of
Wahyu Hidayat (20), a first-year student, who was allegedly
beaten to death by a group of senior students, followed by the
mobbing of journalist-photographer, Bivansyah Dunda (26) of Koran
Tempo by students of the same school -- has had repercussions
both for the delinquent students and the reputation of the school
(The Jakarta Post, Sept. 6 and Sept. 9; Media Indonesia, Sept.
9).

A piercing caricature on the Post's Opinion page (Sept. 10)
reflected the mentality of the school, (as illustrated by the big
question mark drawn in place of a head). But the caricature also
tarnished the image of the quality education that generally
prevails in this country.

An article written by a senior scholar appeared in Kompas,
Sept. 8, entitled A distinction between academic culture and the
culture of academic violence. In essence, the article discusses
the academic cultural practice purporting to acquaint newly
enrolled students with campus life -- which is acclaimed as
having academic virtue.

However, in practice, deviations from the ideal postulate
frequently occur in the application of extreme violence. This
inevitably culminates to fall within the purview of criminology.

However, it must be noted that it has become commonplace for
the public to despise and condemn the so-called culture of
corruption in this country, that has become a rampant practice.

To speak of a "culture of academic violence" constitutes a
contradiction in terms, as it is incongruent with the definition
and concept of culture itself. So the term must be dismissed.

Accordingly, any positioning of the two concepts (culture and
violence) essentially constitutes a misplacement.

S. SUHAEDI

Jakarta