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Event Policies Interim Guidelines

The document outlines interim guidelines for holding events at IIT Bombay, specifying that events must avoid political topics that could divert IIT Bombay from its mission or damage its reputation. It establishes rules for obtaining permission and vetting speakers for different types of events organized by students, faculty, or staff. Violations of the recording, conduct, or defamation rules outlined may result in disciplinary action.

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43 views

Event Policies Interim Guidelines

The document outlines interim guidelines for holding events at IIT Bombay, specifying that events must avoid political topics that could divert IIT Bombay from its mission or damage its reputation. It establishes rules for obtaining permission and vetting speakers for different types of events organized by students, faculty, or staff. Violations of the recording, conduct, or defamation rules outlined may result in disciplinary action.

Uploaded by

niel dorifto
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Interim Guidelines on Holding of Events at IIT Bombay

Nov 14, 2023

Preamble
The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay is a Govt of India funded Institution of Eminence,
whose primary objective is to offer education at the highest level and conduct impactful
research. It also has the mandate to carry out the vision of the GoI in taking our country to a
higher level of development. While IIT Bombay encourages free and open discussion on
educational subjects, it must also remain apolitical in all its endeavors. Hence it is imperative
that our students, faculty and staff members stay away from activities/events on campus that
may invite socio-political controversies, diverting IIT from its primary mission, or may bring IIT
Bombay into disrepute.

The guidelines outlined in this document are an interim effort in that direction. A more
comprehensive set of guidelines will be created subsequently, after an in-depth study, by a duly
appointed committee. These interim guidelines will be applicable until the guidelines prepared
by the committee are formally approved.

Types of events
The term event used in this document includes the following:
● Class event/talk/seminar, which are part of a course, and no one except course
students are invited.
● Department/Research Area event/talk/seminar, which are restricted to department
members or to faculty/students who are working on specific research areas.
● Public event/talk/seminar, which are publicized via any means to a larger audience
pool whether from inside IIT Bombay or otherwise.

Events may also be classified as:


● Purely Non Political: Events that are scientific, technological, research-based, literary
or artistic, that have absolutely no political content.
● Potentially political, i.e. those that have any content that may be viewed as political or
socially conflicting.

Protests of any form including protest marches or gatherings on campus require prior
permission from the institute and local police.

Permission to Hold Events and Vetting of External Speakers


Official permission is needed to organize any event on campus, with certain exceptions as
noted below.
- Student organized
- Students can organize events only through the recognized bodies of the campus
which are part of the student gymkhana after obtaining approval from the Dean
(SA).
- For events involving external speakers, or screening of movies/documentaries
Dean (SA) obtains clearance from a committee appointed by the Director before
approving the event.
- Faculty organized
- Public events organized by faculty should be approved by the Head of the
academic unit.
- Faculty members planning to invite external speakers, or to screen
documentaries/movies, whether it is part of their academic activity or otherwise,
shall take prior approval from the Head of the Academic unit.
- However, there is no need for such permission if the talk/content is purely
non-political (as defined earlier) and has absolutely no content that may
be construed as political, or potentially controversial.
- Heads may approve the speaker(s)/videos if they judge that the talk/video has no
political content and is not potentially controversial. Otherwise they must get
approval from the external speaker review committee in advance.
- Staff organized
- All staff organized events shall be approved by/routed through Dean (AA).
- The approval process for the external speaker(s) would be the same as for the
faculty organized events.

External Speaker Review Committee:


In order to vet the external speaker(s), an External Speaker Review committee will be
appointed by the Director. This committee will review the details of the speakers/videos,
(including speaker bio, abstract of the talk, public links on the speaker and talk, copies of
recorded material to be played at the event, etc). This information must be provided by
the faculty member who is hosting the event/talk/seminar.

Usage of Institute / Academic Unit name:


The name or abbreviation of the institute or an academic unit of the institute cannot be
associated with any event without the prior approval of the competent/relevant authority.

Video/Audio recording Rules:


● At the beginning of the semester, the course instructor shall inform the students about
the video/audio recording rules for the course.
● In case of events/talks/seminars, the host shall inform the participants about the
video/audio recording rules at the beginning of the event/talk/seminar. Permission of the
external speaker is also required for recording.
● The rules for video/audio recording will be the decision of the instructor/host of the event.
● In case no rules have been announced, any person who wishes to record the
class/event should get permission from the course instructor/event host.
● Host/course instructor reserves the right to amend the above at any point of time during
a course or a lecture/event.
Violation of recording rules can result in removal of the person from the venue, and disciplinary
action where warranted.

Conduct rules during event/seminar/talk


● It is expected that all the participants behave in a civilized manner during the
event/talk/seminar and during the course lectures.
● If any person is found disrupting proceedings at any point in the event/talk/seminar/
lecture, the host/instructor may ask the participant to leave the venue. If needed, the
host/instructor can call security to bring the situation to order and report the same to
concerned authorities.

Process for filing complaints:


There is an internal mechanism in place for the students/faculty to submit complaints or
grievances.

All academic complaints should be reported to the Heads of respective academic units. The
Head can decide to resolve the matter locally or can refer the same to the respective Dean’s
office (Dean SA/FA/AA).
● Other matters can be reported to respective committees such as Gender Cell, SC/ST
Student Cell, etc, or to the relevant institute functionary.

Students, faculty, and staff shall not take internal matters (barring those related to violation of
criminal laws) directly to external agencies before first making an internal complaint, and waiting
for the prescribed period as per institute policies for resolution internally.

Defaming institute and individuals via media/social media


As per code of conduct rules in the IITB statutes:

“No employee shall, in any radio broadcast or in any document published anonymously or in
his/her own name or in the name of any other person or in any communication to the press or in
any public utterance, make any statement of fact or opinion,- i) which has the effect of an
adverse criticism of any current or recent policy or action of the Institute, or ii) which is capable
of embarrassing the relations between the Institute and of the Central Government or any State
Government or any other institution or organisation or members of the public. Provided that
nothing in this paragraph shall apply to any statements made or views expressed by an
employee in his/her official capacity or in the due performance of the duties assigned to
him/her.“

Further, defamation rules of Indian Penal Code Section 499 apply to everyone in India, including
students.

Disciplinary action will be taken against anyone, including students, who violates defamation
rules or indulges in any form of indiscipline.

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