Editor,
While reading the letters to the editor on “Will NEHU wake up” and “Students in distress” (ST-23rd July), I realized there are many untold stories about NEHU that have belied its claim to being a ‘University with potential for excellence.’ The concerns conveyed by the students are genuine and are known to the public. There are, however, certain untold stories that happen at midnight in the campus, which the University authorities have turned a deaf ear to. I am an inmate of Sensiar hostel. One night I was awakened by loud music and cheer. It was 12.10 am. I pulled my window curtains and to my surprise I saw my hostel mate and some girls partying in the opposite boys hostel (Chhinlung). The scene was similar to a beach party seen in English movies and music videos. The party disrupted our sleep but since it was a Friday night we let it pass as Saturday was a holiday.
The same scene was repeated every week, sometimes every day. But at the time there were no exams so we put up with the noise. But during the last end semester exam the late night party opposite our hostel never ended, because it being a research scholar’s hostel, the inmates do not have exams like we post-graduates do. Disturbed by the unending noise, some of my hostel mates shouted, requesting them to end the party at least for the night because they were having exams the next day. But the revelers mocked and jeered at us. We could neither study nor sleep.
The hostellers complained to the warden but there was no response. We always believed that a university is meant for studies and research with occasional fun. But here it is the opposite. Moreover how could girls spend their nights in a boys’ hostel? And all these go unchecked by the authorities! Some thought they would report this to the University Students’ Unions but decided against it as the Union hardly cares about the welfare of students. It is ironic that the natural environment of NEHU is perfect for academic activities, yet the social environment created by the beneficiaries themselves has become a nuisance.’
I request the Vice Chancellor, NEHU to check such events which derail academic progress of the students in the university. I wish that the next two semesters will not be disturbed by such nuisance and immoral acts of certain groups of students who take the hostel as their private premises. I believe that the Chhinlung Cave, whose name is used for the hostel, was a Sacred Cave, unlike the one existing in NEHU.
Yours etc.,
Frustrated students
(Name withheld on request)