Student councils: Intricacies in the interior

The recent violence surrounding the election of the student council at the historic Presidency College has raised a pertinent question. Are there more brickbats than bouquets when it comes to the selection and functioning of student councils in the various colleges in Chennai? While professional colleges seem to be safely tucked away from the rough and tumble of postured student realpolitik, the arts and science colleges throw up a whole host of styles of student bodies and their functioning. Janane Venkatraman, Sudarshan Ramabadran and Shyam Balasubramanian bring you a snapshot of the youthful wrangle of intra-college politics

There are probably as many types of student bodies in Chennai colleges as there are different kinds of governments in the world. Some of these student bodies are lithe, while some are as large as the Assembly of a medium-sized Indian state. Some enjoy autonomy, while others are tightly-controlled by the college managements. There is even the equivalent of a failed State, where the student body has been dissolved due to violence.

This is a rough summation of the student body scenario in Chennai. We will go into that shortly, but one point is particularly noteworthy. There is little involvement of political parties in the student bodies, making them almost exclusively an intra-college affair. While most colleges have student bodies directly elected by students, some work in a more electoral college format, with the student body being chosen by class representatives. The historic Queen Mary’s College for Women is an example, where three or four candidates contest every year.

A vast majority of the colleges follow a system of electing a student body, which is allotted a limited role to campus life. There seems to be some amount of competition for the seats on the student body, but tight control mechanisms are in place to prevent violence or animosity.

These student bodies are tasked with organising various activities, programmes and inter-collegiate cultural events. It is also the prerogative of the student body in most cases to find corporate sponsorship for these events, over and above whatever amount is given to them by the college management.

Issues faced by students on campus – such as the state of toilets, lack or drinking water facilities, parking, etc – do not come to the student body very often, but are escalated to the management when they do. Loyola College, Women’s Christian College and Nandanam Government Arts College stand out  as examples of this trend.

Another system is found at the DG Vaishnav College. Here, student council members are nominated from each class in each department. These nominees then choose a PG student as the leader, who is styled the student representative. While this system may lack the cohesion found in other colleges, it works to the college’s benefit, with a mini-council picked for every major event that is to be conducted.

“To be frank, the leadership opportunities are offered on a round-robin basis so that everyone can exercise their leadership capabilities. Political motivations are absent as we are all nominated by our respective departments, and any resentment is resolved as everyone gets an opportunity to be a leader. Faculty members play a major role of guiding the council,” says Rahul, the current student representative.

On the other hand, the MOP Vaishnav College for Women stands out for not having a student body, but a student cabinet. This is replete with a Prime Minister, A Deputy Prime Minister, eight Cabinet Ministers, Deputy Ministers and MPs. This is the largest intra-college student body in Chennai, with a whopping 166 members.

The candidates for PM and Deputy PM are chosen by the students, but who will don these mantles is finally up to the faculty. The various ‘ministries’ take care of organising events in their respective fields, such as cultural affairs, home affairs, intellectual affairs, sports, NCC etc.

Another stand out is the Madras Christian College. Befitting its age, the selection of the student body is a tradition rather than just a straight forward election, making it the only fully-democratic student body in the city. The candidates are expected to campaign through a process called ‘stooling’, where they have to get on top of stools in each of the college’s six hostels and read out their manifestos.

The candidates are then put through an intense grilling by their prospective voters. While competition and animosity are inevitable in most of these systems, no one seems to remember any violence in any of these processes. While some attribute this to tight control by the college managements others blame it on the fading relevance of student bodies.

Either way, the wrangles that elections bring will invariably continue at these campuses.

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