The High Cost of a Thumb: When a Legal Career Ends Before It Begins

In the world of Indonesian higher education, the yellow jacket of the University of Indonesia symbolises prestige, intellect, and hope. For those who successfully navigate the fierce competition at the Faculty of Law (FH UI), the future seems wide open: becoming a judge, prosecutor, or renowned lawyer. However, history records a major irony in April 2026. Sixteen students must swallow the bitter reality that their legal careers are over even before they begin. Not because of academic failure, but because of their behaviour at the tip of their thumbs. The pressure on the university to impose Drop Out (DO) sanctions on the perpetrators of verbal sexual harassment in a digital conversation group sends a strong message. This is not merely an administrative punishment, but a statement that morality is non-negotiable, especially for those studying law. Then, a much larger and conscience-probing question arises: Is this scandal at FH UI merely the tip of the iceberg freezing in our education system? There, the language used is no longer the language of law that upholds human dignity, but rather narratives of objectification and degradation towards their fellow female students. What they call “internal jokes” or locker room talk is in fact a real form of sexual violence. Herein lies the paradox: how can someone be trusted to uphold justice in the future if, in their thoughts and thumb-typed words, they are actually dismantling the humanity of others? It would be very naive to assume that such behaviour only occurs in Depok. It is possible that what has been revealed at FH UI is just a small piece of the dark reality occurring in many other campuses in Indonesia. How many similar groups are still active today? How many female students become the subject of daily sexual mockery in chat rooms without ever being known to the public? This phenomenon shows that our digital literacy and communication etiquette are at their lowest point. Campuses, which should be laboratories of civilisation, are often caught off guard by toxic cultures that take root under the radar of supervision.