A controversy over a viral video showing cow dung being applied to classroom walls for cooling took a dramatic turn on Tuesday when DUSU president Ronak Khatri defaced the office of Lakshmibai College principal, Dr Pratyush Vatsala. Khatri smeared cow dung on the office walls, claiming the move was a response to the principal’s “unscientific and bizarre” experiment.
The incident stemmed from a video where Dr Vatsala was seen applying cow dung to walls an initiative she later clarified was part of a faculty-led research project into indigenous and sustainable cooling methods. The project, according to her, was being conducted in porta cabins under rising temperatures.
Defending her now-viral video, Principal Vatsala stated on April 13 that the activity was part of an ongoing research project being carried out in porta cabins. “This research is still ongoing. I will be able to share more after a week,” the principal said, as reported by news agency PTI, dismissing claims of misinformation being spread online. She had earlier shared the video in a teachers’ WhatsApp group, explaining that it was a pilot attempt to cool classrooms in C Block naturally.
Khatri, however, criticized the move, saying no consent was taken from students. “If you want to experiment, do it at your home,” he said during a heated exchange inside the principal’s office, captured on video.
Mocking the principal’s method on X (formerly Twitter), Khatri wrote: “We helped madam by plastering her office too. Now we hope she’ll remove the AC from her room and share it with students.”
The incident has sparked widespread debate on campus, highlighting tensions between administrative experimentation and student involvement in institutional decisions.
