Feb. 22: An open convention by the Presidency University students' union on how admission tests should be conducted turned into a war of words between students and a professor.

Professor Mridu Rai, former head of the history department, objected when the students accused the authorities of trying to curb their voice by introducing curbs on graffiti. Rai questioned if "vandalism" in the name of graffiti was fair. She also protested when the students questioned the authorities' decision to make attendance mandatory.

Writing on the wall

Srishti Saha spoke about the alleged tendency of the authorities to disregard students' voice. To assert her point, she brought up the curbs on graffiti. "Authorities run after a student and threaten her with dire consequences if she dares to paint a graffiti," Srishti said.

Rai, who was seated in the audience, reacted. "Please remember, this is public property. So every time you vandalise, you are not hitting the vice-chancellor's pocketbook, you are hitting your own family's pocketbook." She urged them to find other ways to protest.

"Graffiti is the only tool we are left with to get a message across on a campus where the authorities refuse to have any dialogue with students on any issue," said Srimati Ghosal, a postgraduate student.

Graffiti a tradition

Be it the main portico or the historic Baker Building, walls emblazoned with graffiti have been a common sight at Presidency. When whitewashing did not help with graffiti resurfacing within days of a fresh coat on the walls, the university put up four mobile poster boards in 2014 so that students who wished to write graffiti could do so without defacing the walls. But graffiti once again found its way to the walls.

The state government had contributed over Rs 10 crore for beautification of the campus as part of the bicentennial celebrations. A bulk of the amount went in painting the building.

Attendance row

At Presidency, 75 per cent attendance has been made mandatory for writing exams. "You worry about attendance. Is that the biggest thing that keeps you awake at night? Show up in your classes. Show that you are interested... your attendance is necessary because you learn more from each other than you do from me," Rai said.

VC speaks

VC Anuradha Lohia denied the allegation that she was against dialogue with students. "If I did not hear their voice, then we wouldn't have agreed to hold entrance test in Bengali along with English," she said.