Deadlock among students over Senate election and PU holidays. A new committee was established to submit recommendations on Senate reform.
Following protests by Punjab University (PU) students against the conduct of Senate elections since the end of October. The impasse between the students and PU authorities appears to have been broken as they have agreed to be part of a new committee preparing recommendations on Senate reforms.
The proposal to establish a new committee was first proposed in November by the former Dean Student Welfare (DSW) committee. Although previous students had rejected this, there was still a section that insisted that the “Morcha” should make their voices heard through this medium. Now, their claim has won and the names of four students have come forward, including members of Sat Punjabi Nama, Students Organization of Punjab University (SOPU) and Ambedkar Students Forum.
Panel configuration
DSW Amit Chauhan, who is also part of the committee, said, We called the students on Monday and agreed to their request that a representative of the Punjab government be included on the panel. We plan to hold our first meeting soon.”
The committee is chaired by RK Singla, former dean of university education (DUI), PU, and includes two members, one DSW associate and Rattan Singh of University Institute of Law Studies (UILS). It is planned to have a DSW. Besides the four student representatives, Punjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) president Anurag Dalal will also be part of the panel.
Committee members held a discussion on the 2018 report prepared for Senate reform and said recommendations chalked out during the discussion would be sent to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Panjab University Bachao Morcha coordinator Gagandeep, one of the four student representatives on the committee, said he completely disagreed with the recent Senate reform report. “We will continue to advocate that there should be no reforms that affect student and Punjab representation in the Senate. I will demand that all four student council officers have a seat and a voice in the Senate.”
He added that there are other issues that need to be addressed, such as reservations in the structure of the Senate, which will be discussed in the future. He said the authorities had promised to discuss sending a representative as part of the committee with the Punjab government.
Morca, opinions are divided over relocation
However, not all students have agreed to participate in this panel. Students For Society (SFS) president Sandeep had opposed the move. “The Senate is the highest body of the PU and no committee has the power to make changes to it. By creating such a committee, we will be able to make further changes to the Senate at later instances. “It’s setting a precedent that can be used, and I completely disagree with that,” he said. This rift is now visible in the Morcha, which recently announced that it would adopt a minimum support policy. The policy is that although there may be differences of opinion, there will be unity on PU Senate issues.
The Senate is the highest governing body of Punjab University. The university has been operating without a Senate since its four-year term ended on October 31st. Protests by students and senators have been ongoing since the last week of October. Authorities have also lodged police complaints and court cases over the protests, including an FIR registered against students who tried to disrupt Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s event on November 13. So far, no action has been taken.
