NEW DELHI: Delhi University’s St Stephen’s College has prohibited students from wearing shorts in several parts of the campus, including classrooms, assembly hall, library, dining hall and chapel. The move sparked protests on Tuesday and several students turned up in shorts on the first day of the new academic session.In a notice circulated internally and pasted across the campus, a copy of which was seen by TOI, the college directed “all junior members” to “strictly adhere” to the campus regulations on dress code. It was signed by the college’s new principal Susan Elias.Students, however, claimed that the restriction applies to senior members as well. TOI reached out to Elias for a response, but she did not reply.Many students described it as “moral policing” and an “intrusion into their choice of clothing”. They, however, said that teachers assured them that the notification would not be enforced.A third-year student, who requested anonymity, said the practice of discouraging shorts has existed for years, particularly in the dining hall and around the principal’s office. “There are certain practices that get passed on here as part of the college’s tradition. This is one of them,” the student said.Another student said the practice has often caused inconvenience to members of the college’s sports teams, who attend morning practice in their official sports kit. “Students returning from sports practice have at times been denied entry into the mess because they were wearing shorts,” the student claimed.Teachers acknowledged that students have informally been discouraged from wearing shorts in certain parts of the campus for years. This is the first time the college has formally issued a notification explicitly barring the garment, said one of them on the condition of anonymity.The college’s rule book, published over the past several years, requires students to be “decently dressed” on campus but does not specifically mention any garment.However, a faculty member said that “the notice is of little consequence.. In nearly three decades of teaching here, I have never seen anyone being punished for wearing shorts.”
