Mount Carmel College students in Bengaluru oppose rules over dress code and conduct

The Under Graduate and Post Graduate students of Mount Carmel College (MCC), Bengaluru, have alleged that the college administration is “harassing” them under the pretext of dress code. However, college authorities have denied the allegations and said there was nothing offensive in the rules.

“Since the start of this academic year, the administration has introduced repressive and anti-student policies, treating adults like school children and implementing its new dress code in a severely gendered and humiliating manner,” alleged a group of students of the Collective Bangalore.

They alleged that in the past couple of weeks, students have been sent home from the gates despite the fact that many live far from campus and take multiple modes of transport to reach college on time. “Female students have been disproportionately targeted by the security guards... The vague and arbitrary language of the dress code policy has enabled such moral policing, leaving students confused and subject to public humiliation,” alleged students.

Unclear rules

The Collective said that several students leave campus during their lunch break for meals, rest and other reasons but are now forced to remain on campus and eat in the university’s canteen. “The reason behind this new policy, like the dress code, remains unclear and un-transparent,” they said.

“Students’ movement is also being controlled by the university in clear cases of administrative overreach. Forced to show their time tables at the gate, students can now only exit campus if they have no more classes for the day. With a rigid attendance policy already in place, this new measure robs students of their agency, making college no different from school,” the statement said, adding that there is no forum to air their grievaces.

College denies charge

However, speaking to The Hindu, George Lekha, Principal of MCC, said, “We have seen the social media campaign. The dress code is there in the calender, and it is spoken of to the students and their parents during the orientation programme. We are not imposing very strict dress code like certain other colleges. We have a certain freedom, within that freedom we expect ways of dressing. It is what we have been telling them. I don’t understand why they are offended.”