On the evening of Sept. 21, my side bag was checked by Public Safety twice. Similar searches were reported by other students on campus. The student body, quick to Facebook and fury, strongly criticized this action as an infringement on student privacy. While I felt otherwise, I hesitated to speak up; I had an opposing view to what seemed like a consensus. After conversations with several students, however, I realized that I am not alone in my opinion. My view is based in part on personal experience, one decidedly non-Western and often times overlooked at NYU Abu Dhabi.

The Nepal of my childhood was a conservative society where rights of the individual were not prominent. A person’s level of autonomy was determined by elders, be they parents, siblings or teachers. I got to experience this myself when I was forced to strip and was badly beaten by a teacher in grade four. Six years later, when I was in grade 10, my head was shaved bald in front of the entire school. My punishments were a response to my childish mistakes — peeing in a bush or violating the dress code with my new David Beckham hairstyle. While I knew that these extreme punishments were not appropriate, there was a normality around them; they happened to everyone and were not an invasion of a specific individual's privacy. My schooling has made me extremely staunch but not blindly faithful to decisions taken by higher authority. I believe that, in the decisions that they make, our elders are mostly right in the long-run.

Childhoods heavily based around order are common among students from relatively conservative countries on campus. Maybe this is why hardly any of us are seen criticizing the recent bag check policy. The forum that took place last Wednesday was in part evidence of this. While some were present, many non-Western students did not even feel the importance of having dialogue on this issue. Discussing privacy laws in a public forum in a country where such laws do not exist seemed like a stretch. In my view, while the student body does not have any valid legal argument, it is the specific social consciousness of NYUAD students that motivates them to fight for rights that are not present elsewhere in the UAE.

When I joined NYUAD, I was ready to forego certain activities considered illegal in the UAE. All of us agreed to live in this country and abide by its laws, consciously or not. It is a tradeoff: an opportunity of a lifetime that requires aligning oneself with the UAE culture and its policies. Even so, coming to NYUAD is a breath of fresh air for some. The environment on campus is refreshingly liberal and flexible relative to those that exist at home. But for others, it might be the opposite. Regardless, it is important for us to consider and evaluate our actions, and give some thought to the reason why the bag search policy has been enforced. Perhaps we should not be crossing certain boundaries.

Although there are many exceptions, it seems fair to assert that students’ opinion of this policy largely depends on what they usually carry in their bags. If we are in possession of items that could hinder student safety, I do not see the point of contention. However, I find this policy most problematic for the students who carry deeply personal items. Randomized searches could bring them immense embarrassment. If this policy is to stay, the university needs to be more transparent about what is classified as suspicious behavior and show the student body that rule-abiding students will not be affected. On the other hand, as long as we do not have a better policy to ensure safety of the student body, this is the price all students have to pay.

Irrespective of my background, I think it makes logical sense to implement bag searches for the safety of the student body. This, however, does not mean that I do not understand the other perspective. It would be a totally different case if the policy had no basis and was directly intended to violate student rights. I see it as a last resort measure to tackle the situation. However, I do think that there is space for developing a better framework to tackle the issue without constraining transparency to the student body. NYUAD has been incredibly flexible in accommodating our needs and including our opinions. Irrespective of our stance on the bag check policy, let us take a step back and try to be more careful and considerate when solving this issue.