Students start hunger strike against St. Stephen's College admission process

Student activists from the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) and Delhi University (DU) students began a hunger strike on Wednesday that called for the removal of the interview criteria for admissions to St. Stephen's College.

St. Stephen's announced that it would interview all applicants shortlisted from the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) list. For admissions, 85% weightage would be given to the CUET score and 15% weightage to the interview, St. Stephen's said. The move is contrary to the new admission process announced by DU.

Protests against St. Stephen's College's admission policy have been going on for a while. KYS members along with students, professors and administration members from DU have joined the demonstrations, according to a report by The Hindu.

KYS activists said that St. Stephen's had been conducting admission interviews for a long time, which was an "elitist tradition". A KYS statement, cited in the report, said, "The criterion has been persistently used to deny students coming from deprived backgrounds to gain entry into the college, and thereby, maintain the elitism of granting admission and perpetuating the privilege of select clans and families."

The case has gone to the Delhi High Court, which is hearing two separate petitions on the issue. One was filed by St. Stephen’s seeking to stay a DU letter asking it to withdraw its 2022-23 academic year prospectus for undergraduate courses. The second was filed by a law student seeking a direction to St. Stephen’s to admit undergraduate candidates to unreserved seats based only on CUET marks. Both petitions are being heard simultaneously, the report said.

The High Court adjourned its Wednesday hearing on the case till July 15, after the University Grants Commission's counsel said that Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, who was arguing for it, was diagnosed with Covid-19, according to the report.

DU, in its response to the petitions earlier this week, said that an aided-minority educational institution could not admit students under the unreserved category as per its own whims and fancies.

All eyes are on July 15 to see what happens next in the High Court.