The running of a university is an all-encompassing affair. Perhaps the new vice chancellor of Calcutta University had not bargained for the task of having to rid the water provided in a college hostel of bits of dead fauna. The students living in the Biharilal College women’s hostel have been falling violently ill over the last few days after drinking water coming from overhead tanks in which rotting crows, rats and even a cat have been found. They have been complaining to their indifferent and impolite superintendent about the stink. After being ignored repeatedly, and while some of their friends were getting more sick and being taken to hospital, the less incapacitated women made their own investigations and came upon the dead birds and animals in the tank. Their strong and collective protests brought the VC over. He has apologized and promised an inquiry. Few people are fooled by promises of inquiry in West Bengal. So the VC has to make sure that he keeps his word. This is not only a case of the grossest negligence, but also of corruption. Funds allocated for maintenance were obviously being misused in the hostel, where the standards of security and of sanitary hygiene have also turned out to be worse than inadequate. Is this true of other colleges and hostels too?

The basics of health and hygiene are in no way extraneous to the more ‘intellectual’ problems of higher education. The VC should think about what it means for the building and premises of the university’s most prestigious institution, Presidency College, to be the most littered and shabbily maintained in the city. The matter is as essential to the civilizing process of higher education as are good teaching, well-stocked libraries and properly conducted examinations. Students should also realize that a clean environment with proper drinking water, security, food and toilets is part of what they are entitled to and are paying for. Actively ensuring this may give to ‘student politics’ a new meaning and point.