Trauma isn’t the only issue; ragging reflects more than just ignorance, it resembles a society’s dogma and backward nature. A dogma that tries to justify “seniority”, “unity”, or “campus bonding”, concepts belonging to the archaic realm of antiquity and the Dark Ages.

We see thousands of talented young individuals coming from across the country with the goal of making something of themselves, with dreams of education, a good job, and stability driving them to leave their families, but right after setting foot on campus, they have to face this dogmatic culture, that too from their immediate senior batch, who are just one year older.

This article hopes to bisect this dogmatic practice and tries to explain what can be done to get out of it.

So, how does this culture of submission work? Basically in the form of teaching obsolete concepts of “manners”.

Submission of personal liberty and suppression of personal thoughts are the perfect embodiment of such manners. For any logical individual, it’s quite obvious that conventional social norms and manners come from families and the quality of upbringing, but for these divine seniors, manners are something that can be taught in 6-8 months through verbal and sometimes physical abuse.

The next method of submission is their so-called “introduction” sessions and techniques. Verbal bullying is also a staple. Why would any civilised human beings connect with their juniors through verbal abuse in an introductory session?

Only our divine university immediate seniors can. They shame every junior with verbal abuse in the name of disciplining them and creating a memorable bond. Their allegations of “faults” committed by juniors are the justification that they give themselves to do this horrendous act. In some cases, wearing a T-shirt or even handshakes are considered a fault.

Their logic implies that this creates “bonding”, and the very people who bond through these methods of submission are the exact people still keeping it intact.

According to that logic, private universities have no bonding at all, and are desperate, lonely souls walking the desert that is life all alone. Any sane (I mean truly non-senior normal person) can understand that is not the case at all.

Today, private universities have advanced way ahead in terms of quality education, culture, research, and international recognition. Their structured courses, combined with administrative efficiency and strict discipline, have made them extremely competitive across all metrics.

This completely destroys the rhetoric that these cultures need to be in place for creating a bond between the new and the older generation. For discipline across the campus, student-elected bodies, administration, and teachers are far better alternatives for creating a properly disciplined environment.

During the previous years, ragging was an open secret. Chatra League, the student wing of the BAL, was responsible for the most bizarre ragging methods. The infamous gono rooms were known for putting all the junior batches in one room despite universities providing adequate facilities. From physical abuse like hanging upside down with feet on the window to blatant assault, nothing was off the table.

After the July Revolution, one (maybe only me) might have thought the “awakened” Gen Z would grow out of these archaic cultures, but things went underground, with most of the physical ragging disappearing, yet verbal vilification remained.

As the laws around ragging are becoming increasingly tougher, we can see a huge decline in such crimes. And the recent Jahangirnagar University incident is different, maybe because I too am one of those freshers who could have easily been on the fields at midnight.

Many arguments are widespread in support of this dogmatic provision. I, for one, do not and will not subscribe to any rhetoric such as “ragging not being a big deal” or “all over the world some form of ragging is commonplace”.

I prefer people who can distinguish between black and white, and do not use the existence of grey to justify ignorance and intolerance.

Today, the internet has given rise to a new wave of the anti-ragging movement, which has led to multiple suspensions across universities. The most recent case has been the 12 suspensions at JU. Although fair (in my opinion), I do acknowledge that suspension in this case will mean the ruining of 12 lives, but an omelette requires breaking a few eggs, and for us (the freshers), a delicious omelette is long overdue.

We, the students, must bring an end to this horrendous culture. We must improve the laggard system that suppresses creativity and pushes for subordination instead of individual freedom.

Marx famously said, “workers of the world, UNITE!” and it’s time for freshers to do the same.