Students have the right to representation

There should be students from all colleges in the state in the senate, syndicate and academic council elections for the state universities. People’s representation will be removed, after the NR Shetty Committee recommended that in 2010. This move, however, was opposed by the ABVP. According to BV Vasanth Kumar, the state president of the ABVP, “Students are the stakeholders in any university. Hence they have a right to representation.”

The government should release to the public various committee reports on corruption charges against vice-chancellors. The justice Rangavittalachar Committee report against Shashidhar Prasad, former vice-chancellor of Mysore University, who appointed 114 teaching and the non-teaching staff illegally, ought to be available for public perusal. The Justice Venkatesh Murthy Committee report and the Justice Chengappa Committee report on Sahida Aktar, vice-chancellor of Women’s College and the CBI report against the Rajiv Gandhi Health University should also be made public, and action should be taken under the law against those found guilty.

More job-oriented courses should be offered at universities, and access to such courses should be made on a preferential basis to the poor, under reservation.

A student grievance cell should be set up in all universities of the state, so that students can approach it with any problem pertaining to their academic course. Such a cell should also be able to deal with complaints of physical or sexual harassment.