Protests in IIT-M over a different hostel for freshers
TNN Jul 14, 2013, 04.16AM IST
CHENNAI: Nearly 100 students of IIT-Madras held a protest on the campus on Saturday, demanding that juniors and seniors be allowed to continue in the same hostel. Holding placards, they shouted slogans saying the administration was trying to create a culture akin to that in schools.
The institute, from this academic year, introduced a separate hostel for freshers "to prevent incidents of ragging". Several students said the rule denied them the chance to interact and bond. Others said their opinion was never considered before the rule was introduced. "The room allocation committee has three student representatives, but none of their views was considered," said a student representative who didn't want to be named.
"They say ragging is a reason, but there has been no incident of ragging in the past couple of years," said another student. The real reason, he added, was that the administration didn't want students to be independent. "Students here have a lot of say in non-academic things. This is a move to stop that."
IIT-M dean (students) L S Ganesh said the decision could not be reversed. "The Supreme Court has given strict directions to campuses to prevent ragging and we have to follow them," he said.
To counter this, students conducted an online survey and found, according to a pamphlet distributed by students, that more than 92% of the 1,062 responses were against it. "A decision cannot be taken on hearsay or unreported evidence. There has been no ragging of late and the number of first-year suicides in IIT-M has been zero for the past eight years," it said.
Ganesh partially agrees that it will impact interactions between juniors and seniors. "We have taken the decision considering logistics as well as other factors, including legal ones. We did anticipate such protests, but we respect our students. We heard their views," he said. The orientation for freshers is on July 23 and classes will begin on July 29.
