Universities routinley operate a discriminatory on campus accommodation policy and should be challanged over it.
I came to know about this when I visited a friend at IIT Roorkee. She told me how they have a constant battle over curfew times that are different for men and women.
I asked her why they had not tried to mount a legal challenge as any such policy ought to fall foul of the law - but there seemed to be confusion around the law and also fear of repercussions (down marking).
It seems this policy is widespread, but likely not legal - is this something for us to campaign on?
[deactivated account] Wed 28 Oct 2015 2:32PM
Oh and i forgot to mention .. the "donation" amount is non refundable in case you get suspended :p ..
Pirate Vik Wed 28 Oct 2015 2:35PM
@arjun I wonder if we could help to highlight this issue?
Would it help if people could swap institutions to bring a campaign to? For example if I belong to institution A and you belong to institution B - we campaign against the policy at the institution that we are not attending.
We essentially swap - to make things safer.
[deactivated account] Wed 28 Oct 2015 2:37PM
Also , the minimum amount to get an admission for your 3 yr old kid in India in a decent school is now 2 LACS!!! .. It goes up to 5 lacs depending upon the school you want your kid in.. This is true for Chennai , Delhi and Dehradoon ..Im sure its the same elsewhere.. its a rip off!
Forget the poor, can you imagine the plight of a middle class family with 2 kids in todays day and age? lol .. The current education system is a joke!
[deactivated account] Wed 28 Oct 2015 2:45PM
@vik ummm , by institution you mean college right?.. But how?.. How can you campaign against my institution if the students of my own institution dont speak up?
Pirate Vik Wed 28 Oct 2015 2:48PM
@arjun people would need to agree to swap their positions. We could hold an online forum where people who want to campaign could agree to campaign against each others college.
[deactivated account] Wed 28 Oct 2015 3:00PM
@vik okay .. it is doable ..but im having doubts.. see , I have no experience in any kind of activism or organizing anything of this sort.. lets see what others have to say about this? .. meanwhile , why dont you elaborate your online forum idea you mentioned.. how does it work?
Pirate Vik Wed 28 Oct 2015 3:18PM
@arjun seems like another potential social experiment video..
Dress up in women clothes in an attempt to get caught breaking the rule - and video the reaction of the enforcer when he realises you are not a woman, therefore poking fun at the stupidity of the whole thing.
Pirate Vik Wed 28 Oct 2015 3:19PM
Trollstation are excellent at this sort of thing (the social experiment video). Here's an example of their work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr_eV-VmCiE
[deactivated account] Wed 28 Oct 2015 3:39PM
@vik haha nice one.. nice idea.. We'd have to get in touch with college students
[deactivated account] · Wed 28 Oct 2015 2:30PM
This is very common in India.. An average college student finds it difficult to challenge the administration over fear of repercussions.. There are colleges in Chennai , CO-ed ones , where you could get suspended if spotted talking to the opposite sex..
Another reason why students dont speak up is because of the amount of "donation" they pay to get a seat ..they give it a fancy term- "management quota" .. basically you pay for a seat.. A decent college in Chennai will cost you 6 lacs if you pursue engineering and upto 50 lacs if you want to do MBBS .. I know 2 of them who paid 50 lacs each to get an admission in a very reputed medical college in chennai ..
And more often than not , middle class families take out a loan to pay for their kids college education since its become so expensive.. As a result , it becomes difficult for the kid to piss the administration off for fear of facing the repercussions..
I hope you get what im trying to say ..