Students and alumni of Presidency College, backed by academicians, are up in arms against the decision to scrap admission tests in six departments.

“We will stall admissions if the tests are abolished,” said Abhijit Sarkar, the general secretary of the Presidency College Students’ Union.

“The tests help the college maintain a high academic standard,” said another student. He threatened a repeat of the 1984 impasse, when the college remained closed for more than a month after the authorities announced that tests would be done away with. “It was a protest by students that prompted the college to reintroduce the tests.”

Independents’ Consolidation, which runs the union, has handed a memorandum to the authorities opposing the move to scrap the tests.

The SFI unit in the college is yet to announce its stand, but insiders said the leaders are not happy with move. “We are examining the matter,” said Koustav Chatterjee, an SFI leader.

A section of serving and retired teachers, too, has opposed the move. “The college will suffer if the tests are abolished,” said former principal Amal Mukherjee.

A senior teacher pointed out that the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, a UGC unit, had praised the college for holding admission tests for the undergraduate courses of all 17 departments.

Ex-students are arranging talks on the issue and will also write to the authorities, urging them to continue with the tests. “The tests for all the departments should be controlled centrally to avoid manipulations. There should be a controller and deputy controller to man the process,” said Jyotiska Das, an ex-student.

The departments that have abolished the tests are mathematics, geology, philosophy, statistics, Bengali and sociology.