Within the first week of the new academic year, students have raised complaints about the lack of basic infrastructure such as racks to dry clothes and inoperative pantries in the newly built Residence Halls (RHs), RH-6 and RH-7. Some students have also spotted exposed wires, miniature circuit breakers (MCBs), and insects.
Over the last few days, students have expressed their concerns through a flood of emails. These emails, addressed to the administration and student body list various complaints about the hostels. Several students have expressed their support by replying to the email threads. Following this, the Undergraduate Council (UG Council), on 30th August 2024, released a petition, “demanding an open meeting with the Vice Chancellor, the Residence Life Office and other members of the administration.”
The petition lists ten shortcomings of the new RHs and collected over a hundred signatories in a day. It states that the “quality of living” in the new campus is now at “alarmingly low levels” and urges for “prompt and efficient” action. Yashaswi Hegde (UG ‘27), a member of the UG Council and resident of RH-7, wrote an email on 29th August to the Residence Life office with eleven concerns about the new RHs. He wrote about sighting exposed wires and MCBs, absence of washing machines, and “non-functional” pantry facilities, in addition to other “critical issues” that disrupt students’ well-being.
In conversation with The Edict, Yashaswi mentioned “mild fumigation”, which did nothing to change the number of insects, bed bugs, and mosquitoes in the hostels. Sightings of rats have become common. UG councillors told The Edict that students have reported “cloudy”, “milky” and “silty” water.
The administration attributed these to air bubbles but did not comment on the “chalk-like” taste of the water. Electrical hazards on the new campus pose acute dangers. They are not accompanied by “danger” signs. Reports of flooding in the rooms after a day and night of rain exacerbate these risks. The flooding also has other impacts – students are unable to dry their items in the “balconies.” No sunlight reaches this area, and the wall comes up to an average person’s neck.
The state of the pantries, too, is poor. Yashaswi also spoke of the fact that there is one pantry per floor for hostels that are connected, there are no functional plug points in the cooking area and no kettles. He also mentioned that housekeeping members have also been seen carrying tanks of drinking water to the new campus for the students to refill the water dispensers. The water dispensers in the new campus happen to be the same models that were removed last year by the administration on grounds of being prone to bacterial growth.
Students have also complained about maintenance and construction work happening in their rooms without concerns for their privacy. The complete isolation of this campus has also significantly impacted students, and so has the absence of hostel commons.
However, these issues extend beyond students. Housekeeping staff have been working extended hours for the last week, with instances of them leaving campus at 10:30 p.m. and returning for a 7 a.m. shift. In an interview with The Edict, Ahana Walanju (UG ‘25), Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) of the Student Government (SG) said that “the RHs are already understaffed, now most of the housekeeping staff is told to stay in the new campus.” She also mentioned that workers have approached the SG’s Workers’ Committee with concerns about their extensive hours. Urja Hansraj (ASP ‘25), Campus Life Minister, spoke about how the maintenance of RH-5 during the move-in days was “abysmal,” as the housekeeping staff were busy with the maintenance of RH-1, 6 and 7.
Urja says that the petition aims to solve a problem that is not confined to the CLM, but extends to the entirety of the Student Government. Having conducted an “informal” inspection herself, accompanied by members of the Campus Life Ministry, she says she found the new campus “unliveable.” The UG Council expects to get clarity on the situation through their demand for an open conversation.
So far, the administration and the Vice-Chancellor have not responded to the demands posed. The VC did send out a mail on 30th August, detailing the immediate responses to the most pressing concerns raised by the student body, but this was done only after multiple members of the SG reached out personally to members of the administration, repeatedly requesting communication and clarity. Until that point, the administration communicated only with the Student Government, and in individual emails to complainants.
A tour of the new campus has been set up for 3rd September for the President and Vice-President of the SG, Aditi Warrier and Samarth Jain, the Campus Life Minister Urja Hansraj, along with the Pro-Vice Chancellor to assess the state of the RHs. In the course of this tour, Aditi asserted that the SG will once again ask for an apology from the administration, and press them on their specific plans to tackle specific issues.
This begs the simple question, why were students moved into these RHs when they were not ready for occupancy?
(Edited by Madhumita G.I. and Vishnu Prakash)
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