Immaturity causes student brawls

Immaturity causes student brawls

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Student brawls are often associated with junior high school and
high school students, still too young and immature to control
their emotions and deal with problems in a mature, nonviolent
manner. However, this social phenomenon has also become a problem
on the city's college campuses.

"I witness a student brawl (on my campus) almost every month,"
said Jusuf, a student at the Christian University of Indonesia
(UKI).

Jusuf, who was involved in a brawl in April, said in most
cases the violence was sparked by a trivial matter like a quarrel
over a girl or a parking space.

Just like high school students, Jusuf said, college students
are often ready to fight over a small argument on a bus.

Ahmad Gimmy Prathama Siswadi, a psychologist at Padjadjaran
University in Bandung, blamed a dearth of lecturers for many of
the conflicts on campuses.

"As a result of the wide ratio (between lecturers and
students), many problems experienced by students on campus remain
unresolved. This situation is very stressful for students trying
to pursue their studies," Ahmad said. "Ideally, the ratio
(between lecturers and students) is 1:15. But in reality many
lecturers must oversee more than 60 or even a hundred students."

Besides, he added, many students have the emotional burden of
being forced to take a major they dislike because of the
competition to get into the more popular majors.

Ahmad was speaking last week at a seminar on the role of
lecturers in coping with conflicts on campus. The seminar was
held at Trisakti University, which had to shut down for a week
last month because of a brawl. Three students were injured and
six cars were damaged during that incident, which was sparked by
an argument over a parking space.

Meanwhile, Adrianus Meliala, a criminologist at the University
of Indonesia, remarked that student brawls could be minimized if
lecturers were more skillful at spotting and preventing potential
conflicts before they occurred.

"Lecturers must master ways to resolve conflicts, including
through negotiation, mediation and arbitration in accordance with
the respective situation and the case," Adrianus said.

Otherwise, he said, a small conflict could eventually turn
into a brawl.

Adrianus added that there were so many fights on campus
because university officials failed to impose stern sanctions on
students involved in violence.

"The universities must also impose stern sanctions on those
groups to which the fighting students belong. If the brawls
affect the groups, then the groups will in turn stop rewarding
their members for being involved in the brawls," Adrianus said.

Meanwhile, Dadan Umar Daihani, a lecturer at Trisakti
University, said the university often failed to apply proper
punishments because of a common misperception about the students.

"We lecturers often treat (the students) like children, not as
adults who should be held responsible for their actions," Dadan
said.

He said the university should gather together students and
lecturers to seek solutions to conflicts on the campus.

Endon, a student at Trisakti, agreed, saying all parties on
campus must work together to prevent brawls.

"Brawls must be stopped because they disrupt the activities at
the university and keep students from their studies," said Endon.