Several decades ago, as students of IIT Delhi, my friends and I used to be insanely jealous of Delhi University colleges. Not only did they have a better feio than us, their colleges were far male-to-male ratio than us, their colleges were far more relaxed when it came to discipline.The IITs kept us in the grind. We had over 40 class tests, quizzes and mid-term tests every semester, all of which counted towards our grade point average. Class attendance was strictly monitored, and sometimes even contributed to our final score.Meanwhile, our friends at DU couldn't party enough. They rarely attended classes. College for them meant doing adda in the campus lawns. Barring a handful of elite DU colleges (say Stephen's and SRCC ), academics was second priority. Apart from rigour, IITs were also at a different level when it came to enforcing discipline. Any significant act of student indiscipline -skipping too many classes, breaking into a professor's office to steal a paper (yes, it has happened), vandalism or inappropriate behaviour with women -met with one fate, the infamous DisCo or Disciplinary Committee.The DisCo never spares, used to be the adage. DisCo punishment could mean expulsion from IIT, which meant a dark future.Hence, IIT students had a reputation for being disciplined. We did have fun, including doing some barely legal stuff. However, we also paid attention to academics. And we never crossed a certain line even when it came to mischievous fun.DU students, of course, had no such restraint.They even had time for politics and took campus elections seriously. Youth wings of national political parties dominated DU elections. There was something cool about student leaders, bands around their foreheads, screaming about change. Joining bus loads of students, roaming from college to college campaigning seemed far more fun than preparing for the next Applied Mechanics quiz.IIT had student body elections too, but it was a low-key affair. Even posters weren't allowed on campus. Our politics was limited to cute horsetrading between hostels, a far cry from the highly charged atmosphere at DU.We IITians weren't as cool as DU in some ways.However, we can safely say this -our students did really well and got great jobs . And this is what they came to campus for. We also did not have the ugly violence that occurs in DU from time to time, as it did in Ramjas College recently.We endlessly discuss the Ramjas incident, although we focus on the wrong issues. We make it about tolerance vs intolerance, ABVP vs AISA, right vs left, BJP vs Congress, and ultimately what every political debate in India gets reduced to -pro-Modi vs anti-Modi. It's stupid.For the key issue is this -DU is out of control. The current management, and that includes the V-C, the dean and the various college principals, simply cannot keep DU in check.We have a university that gets the best students, yet has little regard for academic rigour or discipline.More than 95% students who come to DU just want to study and have a good future. The failure to control the remaining 5% goons is harming the university's reputation, the atmosphere on campus and risking the future of all who study there. This can be fixed if there is a will to do so.Why do we have a system where it is okay to not attend classes while you can mug up for exams at the end of the year? Why are the disciplinary committees so lax? How many students have been expelled from DU for engaging in violence in the past few years? Why are people who don't study in a particular college hanging about in the college canteen? Is it a college or an adda?Why does all this happen at DU, but not at the IITs, IIMs, NDA or AIIMS?There is nothing inherently wrong in students having political views or even an interest in politics. The line is crossed when there are violent threats or actual violence. It is then that immediate, hard action must be taken so nobody tries such a stunt again. Students must be kept busy through the duration of their course. And outsiders have no business hanging around the campus.It is about time people who claim to be running DU actually took charge and prevented this great university from going out of control. As for the students, the best advice would be to focus on your studies and your future. It is good to have views on national issues. However, don't do it at the expense of deviating from your own life goals.Never allow yourself to be used by the media or politicians and mess up your career in the process.Make the most of college life, and that is when you use it to make your future.