Overview
- The college issued a circular dated July 26 that explicitly prohibits shorts in classrooms, tutorials, laboratories, the chapel, the assembly hall, the library and the dining hall.
- Students responded on the first day of the new academic session by deliberately wearing shorts on campus and organising a planned letter to the administration protesting the rule.
- Principal Susan Elias defended the measure as part of a long‑standing practice at St Stephen’s, saying the rule has historical roots, while some faculty say enforcement has been inconsistent in practice.
- Student groups including the NSUI and KYS called for the notification's withdrawal and framed the rule as moral policing that infringes on personal liberty.
- The row highlights a wider tension on Indian campuses between institutional autonomy and student rights and could prompt formal complaints, further campus debate and scrutiny from university bodies.