Thiruvarur: The Central University of Tamil Nadu here has decided to keep open the hostel doors 24 hours a day after protests by students. Students had been boycotting the hostels after a recent action against two employees for relaxing the time bar. The authorities had been following a 'curfew' aimed at the 'security' and 'safety' of the students.
As per the hostel rules, every student has to enter the hostel before 9'o clock and should stay back. But students were inconvenienced as the the mess timing is from 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm. The students had filed many complaints and held protests earlier as they had to show up at the hostel and the canteen so that they don't miss the overlapping deadlines in a limited time window.
Last week, the services of two contract faculties from the Department of English was terminated as they allowed late entrants and spoke for the students. Subsequently, on Monday night, the students from different hostels gathered outside and broke the curfew. They waited till midnight for a favourable reply from the authorities. As the proctor and chief warden promised on Monday, an open discussion with the student council and hostel representatives were held on Tuesday and finally the administration lifted the restriction.
Now, the students should compulsory mark attendance between 9 pm to 9.30 pm and to leave hostel they need to write their names in the register mentioning the purpose.
The administration also restricted students from certain areas, especially dark and remote areas. Even though the students need to carry their id cards every now and then, somewhat this relaxation of restrictions is a relief for students.
Girl students felt they were discriminated against because of the restrictions, as the restrictions were comparatively relaxed for male students.