MSU impasse set to go on

VADODARA, July 29: For the fourth day running, M S University's Commerce Faculty was closed on Wednesday. Student leaders forcing the clo...

VADODARA, July 29: For the fourth day running, M S University8217;s Commerce Faculty was closed on Wednesday. Student leaders forcing the closure are determined to continue staging their show of strength. The university authorities are equally determined not to succumb to the pressure.

The issue at the heart of every disruption since the academic term opened on July 16 has been the same: the student leaders want the faculty to admit 500-odd students with less than 46 per cent, the cut-off for FYBCom. The faculty has already admitted more students than it can accommodate and are determined not to lower the standards further.

Both parties are right; both are wrong.

The students are right because everyone needs admission and wrong for espousing the cause of those below the cut-off mark. The university, on the other hand, is right because it cannot possibly accommodate all applicants and wrong, because it has paved the way for this agitation by gradually lowering the cut-off percentage.

The result: a no-win situation most affecting the uninvolved students who have nothing to do with the controversy; violence on campus; lowering tolerance level among the faculty. Unrest rules the campus today, with student leaders going beyond representations to smashing furniture.

The university has neither been able to buck the trend nor work out a solution and vacillates between confrontation and conciliation.

The admissions procedure began early this month and concluded on July 23, ending at 5,300 students who had 46 per cent or above. By doing so, it actually flouted UGC guidelines, which fixes the strength of a first year with the Commerce faculty8217;s infrastructure at 3,280.

Last year, the cut-off percentage was 40 as the HSC results were poor in comparison to this year8217;s but the faculty admitted more than 5,000 students.

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Unperturbed by the fact that the faculty has been closed for the better part of a week now, students8217; union general secretary Prakash Verma told Express Newsline, 8220;The students who got less than 46 per cent have no alternative. The union will ensure classes will not begin till all students who have passed the Board are admitted.8221;

Commerce Faculty Dean B S Patel reiterated that student leaders could do whatever they wished, including destroying faculty infrastructure, but the faculty would not accommodate any more students. Incidentally, the faculty has sought police protection, and informed Vice-Chancellor Padma Ramachandran of the situation.

And so the impasse drags on, with the blame, rather than the problem being fixed each passing day.