A protest organised by AISA student body took place today, on 31st July, 2025, at Ramjas College’s front gate, as the college shuts down all admissions for both of its hostels with the start of the 2025-26 academic session.
On 30th July 2025, Ramjas College issued a notice informing students that the hostel would not be accepting admissions for the academic year 2025-2026. The notice mentions the building being under a structural stability test as the main reason for the hostel shutdown. As a response, a student protest organized by All India Students’ Association (AISA) took place today, i.e., on 31st July, 2025, at Ramjas College’s front gate from 2 pm onwards, resisting this shutdown and demanding hostel rights for all students. The students called out the action for adding to the increasing inaccessibility of affordable accommodation in DU, a move that furthers the exclusion of marginalised students.
The hostels accommodated 210 people every year and had a specific number of seats available for the reserved category students (SC/ST, physically challenged, sports persons, foreign students, etc.) to occupy.
With PG and flat rates in North Campus skyrocketing, Anjali, a Delhi University student and representative of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), says:
This model is pushing students toward unaffordable private accommodations and chipping away at the public character of DU. With lakhs of students arriving from across India, hostels are not a luxury; they are a right. We will fight tooth and nail to defend that right for all.”
She also explains how this isn’t just an isolated event but a visible pattern for exclusion:
What’s happening at Ramjas is not new; it’s part of a disturbing pattern across Delhi University. Hindu College Boys’ Hostel has remained shut since the lockdown. KMC dismantled seat allocations for PG students. And now Ramjas has shut down both hostels just as freshers arrive.”
Hindu College’s Boys Hostel is being demolished and rebuilt with the promise to accommodate more students since 2023. LSR College hostel has also remained closed for “maintenance reasons” since March of 2023.
Anjali further talks about how, despite having space for building affordable hostels for students, the university land is being used for private constructions:
This is a strategic move to exclude students from marginalised backgrounds. AISA has long fought for student accommodation. Back in 2016, we launched the “Room of My Own” campaign and submitted a list of vacant DU-owned land that could be used to construct hostels. Yet in 2019, a 39-story private building was being made on university land in front of Vishwavidyalaya metro.”
While the hostels are aged and rundown, it is the responsibility of the university, according to the UGC guidelines, to ensure that students from all sections of society studying here have affordable and safe living situations. The decision to close down the hostel directly contradicts this mandate.
With multiple college hostels currently non-operational, concerns over affordable and inclusive student housing remain unaddressed.
Read also: Legal proceedings initiated against Ramjas College Professor accused of Sexual Assault; POCSO Act invoked
Image Credits: AISA
Gaurika Bahl
