Madras University exams postponed, advances Christmas vacation
Posted on: 17/Dec/2015 9:46:33 AM
Behind students unrest over Tuesday`s manhandling of a French national student by a little faculty member, the University of Madras advanced its Christmas vacation and shut down the institution on Wednesday.
A grouping of students protested on the campus in Chepauk trying that the Controller of Examination S. Tirumagan and the professors of the Anna Centre for Public Affairs say sorry for beating the student for questioning an IAS officer`s claim on handling the Chennai floods.
Almost immediately after the university began functioning, the students sat outside the building that houses the Vice- Chancellor`s office. The protest turned violent after the students entered into a wordy contest, which led the police to take them to a community hall in Chintadripet.
Around 40 students participated in the protest. According to one of the students, the protest was peaceful until some of the non-teaching administrative staff members demanded that they leave the spot. We had some demands, including the reinstatement of four students who had been suspended earlier for protests, one of the protesters said.
Several students had been suspended previously after they staged a protest in support of the former head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration Ramu. Manivannan. Whereas six of them had been taken back, four students were not.
The university had also closed the M Phil program in the department after the protests. A month ago, a group of students had approached the University Grants Commission with their complaints against the university.
On Monday, a group of students presented their set of demands to the Chief Minister`s special cell. We were told that the petition would be forwarded to the Higher Education Secretary, said a student who was arrested after the protest. One of their demands was to order for a CBI inquiry into the malpractices in appointments’ and corruption in the university.
Belated in the evening, inpatients of the girls hostel were agitated as the university declared a closure ahead of the Christmas vacation scheduled for December 22. All examinations on the university campus have been postponed.
University Registrar David P. Jawahar said the students had 24 hours to vacate the campus. On the other hand, those who were doing projects or had been asked by their guides to stay back were allowed to stay in the hostel.
