Aligarh Muslim University

For blocking access to social media on campus because it can allegedly be a cause of distraction

Aligarh Muslim University
(AMU) has banned the use of
social media on campus.
According to media reports,
its denial of access to
Facebook and Twitter
between 9 am and 5 pm was a
move made in the interests of
students and teachers, who
were getting distracted by
them.

While whether such a
ban is enforceable is
debatable, it smacks of
ignorance of the broader
benefits of social media.
Facebook and Twitter have
long ceased to be just tools of
entertainment. They are now
aggregators of news and
information, as vital and more
immediate than newspapers
and news sites. Users,
especially students, use these
tools to interact and collaborate
on projects. Besides, one
can easily bypass such bans by
accessing them through proxy
websites.

It is likely that there
is more to this decision than
keeping distraction levels low.
Earlier this year, an AMU
professor, Nadeem Rezavi,
was suspended after he spoke
against its Vice Chancellor,
Lieutenant General
Zameeruddin Shah. Last
November, AMU tried to ban
Facebook, claiming that
misleading information of a
religious nature was being
circulated. Such moves
embarass the modernist
ideals of its famous founder
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.

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