Chaos on Ravenshaw campus after closure

A chaotic situation prevailed at the Ravenshaw University campus here throughout the day on Wednesday as the university authorities in a sudden turn of events declared closure sine die late on Tuesday evening asking the students to vacate their hostels immediately. The sine die order came as a surprise to many for the fact that the term-end examinations of the spring semester (January-June) are still continuing.

The decision to shut down the university indefinitely has dealt a blow to the plans of the final year students of both undergraduate and postgraduate students, who are now a worried lot.

“If the remaining examinations are not held in time then there will be a delay in publication of results, which will ultimately deprive us of pursuing higher education in other universities and institutions,” rued a final year student.

 Realising that the sine die order was issued in haste, the authorities are now considering rescinding the decision. “As soon as normalcy is restored in the campus, the Staff Council will meet to take a decision on rescheduling the dates of the remaining examinations,” said University Registrar Dr Maheswar Agasti. Most of the teachers this correspondent spoke to admitted off the record that the sine die order was “uncalled for”.

Late on Tuesday evening, Agasti issued the sine die notice by the order of the Vice-Chancellor Ishan Patro after a day-long agitation by a group of students protesting against an earlier order of the university asking them to vacate their hostels by May 28.

The students were also protesting against what they called the “unreasonable” hike in tuition fees and hostel fees. When the unrests took a turn for the worse, the sine die order was issued at around 9.30 pm.

Requisitioned by the civil authorities, while police carried a flag march in the campus on Wednesday anticipating more untoward situations, the campus witnessed heavy police deployment throughout the day. Meanwhile, a Students’ Action Committee comprising mostly those protesting students who agitated on Tuesday, staged a dharna in front of the university gate demanding lifting of sine die immediately.