<p>The outgoing Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice Chancellor Sudhir Kumar Sopory once told his granddaughter that student protesters shout slogans, “VC hosh main aao (VC come to your senses)!” <br /><br />“Fir aap hosh main kyon nahi atey ho (Then why don’t you come to your senses)?” the VC said his granddaughter told him. <br /><br />Sopory, who is going to retire from the post of JNU VC on January 27, told reporters on Tuesday that student union polls resumed in the university during his tenure, after a three-year interim ban on it by the Supreme Court in 2008. <br /><br />The student union since then has launched successful countrywide campaigns such as Occupy UGC – and currently, the union is demanding justice for a 26-year-old Dalit student of the University of Hyderabad who committed suicide in his hostel room early this week. Following the incident, the JNUSU called for a university strike.<br /><br />“I always tell students, they can shout: ‘murdabad, zindabad (long live, down-down)’, as long as they do their studies,” the VC said. <br /><br />The JNU student leaders however, said they disagree with VC. JNUSU vice-president Shehla Rashid Shora said the university’s student community wants elections without the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations. <br /><br />The committee’s recommendation lays down rules for conducting students’ union elections, sans so-called money and muscle power. <br /><br />“It’s an instrument to bring in fee hike,” Shora told Deccan Herald, claiming that the committee’s recommendation has left the JNUSU “wanting for more powers”.<br />She said the union had recently opposed the university fee hike.<br /><br />The JNU administration has been sensitive to student demands, Sopory said at a press meet on Tuesday. “Some students objected to a signage which says ‘blind curve’,” he said, as he turned around to ask his colleagues to suggest a term that is not offensive to visually impaired students.<br /><br />“The university conducts an access audit for ensuring barrier free campus for disabled students,” he added.</p>.<p>On his unaccomplished promises as a VC, Sopory said, “We had funds since two years but I haven’t been able to get permission for construction for over 20 months now. Despite all the support I got from LG, DDA, etc, the plan has got stuck again with the Ministry of Environment and Forests.”<br /><br />The outgoing VC has faced intermittent student protests over the issue of hostel crunch.<br /></p>
<p>The outgoing Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice Chancellor Sudhir Kumar Sopory once told his granddaughter that student protesters shout slogans, “VC hosh main aao (VC come to your senses)!” <br /><br />“Fir aap hosh main kyon nahi atey ho (Then why don’t you come to your senses)?” the VC said his granddaughter told him. <br /><br />Sopory, who is going to retire from the post of JNU VC on January 27, told reporters on Tuesday that student union polls resumed in the university during his tenure, after a three-year interim ban on it by the Supreme Court in 2008. <br /><br />The student union since then has launched successful countrywide campaigns such as Occupy UGC – and currently, the union is demanding justice for a 26-year-old Dalit student of the University of Hyderabad who committed suicide in his hostel room early this week. Following the incident, the JNUSU called for a university strike.<br /><br />“I always tell students, they can shout: ‘murdabad, zindabad (long live, down-down)’, as long as they do their studies,” the VC said. <br /><br />The JNU student leaders however, said they disagree with VC. JNUSU vice-president Shehla Rashid Shora said the university’s student community wants elections without the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations. <br /><br />The committee’s recommendation lays down rules for conducting students’ union elections, sans so-called money and muscle power. <br /><br />“It’s an instrument to bring in fee hike,” Shora told Deccan Herald, claiming that the committee’s recommendation has left the JNUSU “wanting for more powers”.<br />She said the union had recently opposed the university fee hike.<br /><br />The JNU administration has been sensitive to student demands, Sopory said at a press meet on Tuesday. “Some students objected to a signage which says ‘blind curve’,” he said, as he turned around to ask his colleagues to suggest a term that is not offensive to visually impaired students.<br /><br />“The university conducts an access audit for ensuring barrier free campus for disabled students,” he added.</p>.<p>On his unaccomplished promises as a VC, Sopory said, “We had funds since two years but I haven’t been able to get permission for construction for over 20 months now. Despite all the support I got from LG, DDA, etc, the plan has got stuck again with the Ministry of Environment and Forests.”<br /><br />The outgoing VC has faced intermittent student protests over the issue of hostel crunch.<br /></p>
