AU panel to vet student body’s future today

Allahabad: Allahabad University’s (AU) academic council will decide about the fate of Students Council and whether the varsity should continue awarding degrees to Ewing Christian College during its meeting on Thursday.
The decision on the body is a much-awaited one in the wake of the frequent protests which were reported after the varsity replaced the AU Students’ Union with a Students Council in 2019.
In June 2019, AU replaced the students union with a student council and the move was endorsed by the varsity’s Executive Council too.
The Students Council elections were held on the campus and also in other constituent colleges in October 2019. However, all 23 students who had filed nomination for various posts of the body withdrew their names at the last minute. Without any candidates to contest the election, the Students Council elections were subsequently cancelled.
“AU’s Academic Council will discuss the future of the students representative body. It will decide if the Students Council would continue to exist or if the students union will be reinstated,” said one of the head of departments at AU, who would be attending Thursday’s meeting.
The council would also discuss if the varsity should continue awarding AU degrees to Ewing Christian College (ECC) students.
Last month, AU’s examination committee had decided to discontinue with the practice as the constituent college conducts its own admission process, sets question papers itself and even evaluates the answer sheets independently.
“The meeting would be convened at 11am in the North Hall and several important issues would be discussed, ” said AU public relations officer Shailendra Mishra.