‘Left outside at night in the winter cold’: After student outcry, Ashoka University lets them return early

The communication was issued shortly after a meeting between the Dean of Student Affairs and representatives of the Ashoka University Student Government (AUSG), and comes amid growing student criticism over how winter-break residence restrictions were enforced.

As reported by The Indian Express on Monday, several undergraduate students said they were denied access to campus despite appeals citing lack of accommodation in Delhi. In some cases, access cards were disabled without warning, leaving students outside campus gates late in the evening.

Sources within the Student Government said that during Monday’s meeting with the administration, it was pointed out that sports teams routinely return to campus about a week before the winter break officially ends. Based on this precedent, it was communicated that students who wished to return during the same period should also be allowed to do so.

On Monday, Ashoka University told The Indian Express, “All students holding administrative responsibilities such as resident assistants, heads of various student-led clubs & societies, and those preparing for sports tournaments could be on campus by 11th of January in accordance with the policy. The policy has in-built flexibility of up to a few days for departure from campus and return to campus during the winter break. Upon receiving multiple requests for an early return, we have advanced the date of return to campus by a week for all students.”

Responding to student concerns earlier, Ashoka University had told The Indian Express that winter-break residence restrictions were being implemented “as per policy”.

“During the winter break, students who are required to be on campus for pre-scheduled official assignments, with advance information to the university, and all international students are permitted to be on campus. Due to security and logistical concerns, access to university premises remains restricted during this period to those with prior approval, as per university regulations,” it had said.

Student representatives, however, claimed that no detailed explanation was provided beyond this, even though students pay hostel fees for the monsoon semester, which covers residence between August 22 and December 31.

For years, according to the students, they have been allowed to remain in their hostels at Ashoka University during such vacations. Many students, especially those from outside North India, or abroad, routinely stayed back, as their hostel fees covered residence through December.

But this time, it was different. Members of the Student Government had said students were informed of a new ‘Residence Life’ policy, requiring them to vacate campus during the winter break unless they received special approval through an appeal process. Several students said the communication that followed was delayed, ambiguous, or entirely absent.

An undergraduate student from Karnataka had told The Indian Express that he found himself locked out of campus close to midnight in a similar manner after receiving an email barring him from staying on campus during the winter break on a very short notice.

On December 28, while he was in Delhi and planning to return to campus, he said he received an email in the evening, stating that he would not be allowed back on campus.

By 11.45 pm, he, along with another student, was standing outside the campus gate in cold, foggy conditions, he had told The Indian Express. “Our access cards had been disabled. Campus shuttles had stopped running. Sonipat felt unsafe,” he added. “We kept telling them we had no family, nowhere to go,” he said.

Only after he emailed the administration, copying the Vice-Chancellor,  stating that the university was “leaving us out in the cold where their cards reactivated around 10 minutes later,” he added.