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Miranda House students told not to sleep on lawns

Ahead of NAAC inspection, college authorities allegedly impose diktats in order to get A+ grade again

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Earlier in January students were asked not to take selfies or style hair in college gallery
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"Dress decently", "behave in a civil manner", "no roaming around in corridors and sleeping around in lawns": These were some of the diktats imposed upon the students of Delhi University's (DU) Miranda House college, ahead of the college assessment by a University Grants Commission (UGC) body.

Calling it a "pretentious" move on behalf of the college administration in a bid to "ensure A+ grade", a second-year English (H) student said: "The hostel warden gave us other bizarre instructions, such as not to hang our clothes, particularly undergarments, in balconies for two days — March 27 and 28 — during the visit by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) team. The mess lunch timing was changed from 12.15 pm to 1 pm for no obvious reason."

The hostel residents said a series of "searches" were also conducted in their rooms on the pretext of cleaning. "Our rooms are our space. We bear responsibility for them and should, therefore, have control over them. This kind of invasion into our personal space is outrageous," a hostel resident said.

College Principal Pratibha Jolly, however, denied all allegations, saying no such advisory was issued by her. "We portrayed a normal day at Miranda in front of NAAC officials. Students were not asked to behave differently during their visit," she said. "Students can access every nook and cranny of the college. This is the charm of Miranda," she said, adding that the inspection went exceptionally well.

"What image of the Miranda House did the Principal want to portray to NAAC when she said we needed to put our best foot forward? The college was turned into a resort," rued Devangana Kalita, former Miranda House student and a member of Pinjra Tod, a campaign to ensure no gender-discriminatory accommodation for women students.

Earlier in January, students had slammed the college for putting up a notice for School of Open Learning (SOL) students, advising them to not "take selfies, style hair, or model in the college gallery", following which the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) had issued a notice to the college authorities.

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