Kerala student cites college's misogynistic policies to reject award

Kochi: Protesting against her college's misogynistic and anti-student policies, a Kerala student, Mileena Saju, rejected an award for winning the first rank for her BA History degree from MG University, The News Minute (TNM) reported.

The 22-year-old student of Union Christian College in Aluva, Ernakulam, wrote on Facebook that she respectfully rejects the Sri K Narayana Menon Memorial Award protesting the denial of justice on women community in the college.

She further said in her post that students expect respect and consideration from the authorities since the former are the backbone of every educational institution. Society tends to privilege men over women, and for centuries, patriarchy has been there in almost all social institutions.

Educational institutions must identify and destroy it rather than facilitate it, strengthening gender roles, as they are doing currently. Women were being oppressed for centuries, and they don't wish to bend down to institutional impunity anymore as this is the 21st century, she wrote.

In August last year, a group of students released a video on social media in which some female students accused a professor who heads a department, of inappropriate behaviour. The institutions Internal Committee against sexual harassment, however, dismissed the allegations and said that the students interpreted professors mannerisms in the "wrong way".

Mileena said in the post that students do remember how "a sexual predator" who traumatised many, 'was still occupying a respectable teaching position in the college. Also, how the Internal Complaints Committee dismissed the complaints about ragging on a 13-year-old inside the campus and the oppressive and sexist hostel rules.

Mileena told TNM that the 13-year-old girl, daughter of a professor, was ragged by an anti-woman ragging sect of male students, who have the endorsement from the authorities' oppressive policies towards women.