St Stephen’s students told to clear hostel rooms or pay rent

nNEW DELHI: Nearly three weeks after St. Stephen’s College announced that students residing in its hostels needed to clear their belongings by August 7, failing which a room rent would be levied, around 30% of the students are yet to collect their belongings.

Principal John Varghese said that of the approximately 400 residents, around 120 are yet to clear their belongings. “They are mostly final-year students and have been given multiple options. Residents can either get in touch with the Dean’s office and come and take it themselves. If they can’t do that, they can authorise a family member, relative, guardian, or friend to do the same. They can authorise the dean himself to remove the belongings because we need to prepare the rooms for the next academic year.”

Students can approach the Dean’s office with their queries and issues, Varghese added.

On July 25, the college issued a notice stating that students unable to clear their belongings by August 7 could retain their rooms “with a modest room rent of ₹100 per day starting from August 7.”

The college’s Students’ Union Society has written multiple times to college authorities saying many students would find it difficult to return to the campus owing to travel restrictions.

“States have varied Covid-19 guidelines across the country. For instance, if I come to Delhi, I would be quarantined for a week. If I go back, I would be quarantined for 28 days, of which two weeks would be paid institutional quarantine. States like West Bengal

have random two-day lockdowns which will affect the travel schedule arbitrarily,” said a final-year undergraduate student, requesting anonymity.

Many students also said authorising others to clear their belongings is unfeasible. “Not all students have local guardians in Delhi. Even if they do, the guardian or friends might not be willing to put themselves in danger and go to college to retrieve our belongings,” added the student.

A first-year undergraduate student from a southern state said the notice would pose more difficulty for students who do not live in neighbouring states of Delhi. “My parents were not keen on me coming to Delhi to clear my room. Apart from the health crisis, there are financial concerns,” said the student who could not clear her room.