Departmental events

[Usha Raman]

Dear all:

As you know, the Department from time to time organizes special lectures and seminars and a variety of other events that bring in external experts and practitioners to interact with the student and faculty group. It is expected that all students attend these events, as the primary reason for organizing them is to provide an exposure additional to the curriculum and also offer the opportunity for you all to engage with a range of ideas and people.

Last week the Department had hosted the Traveling Film South Asia, a selection of films from the region, many of which spoke to very important social and political issues of our times. The attendance from the student body was, to put it mildly, pathetic. While on the first day there were about 18-20 students in the audience, on the last day there were less than 10. I could count some 6 or 7 students from the RVP stream (4th semester)--a group which is currently supposedly working on their own documentaries.

We go to considerable lengths and put a lot of financial investment into bringing such events to the campus, and it is embarrassing when there is such a low turnout, not to speak of the lost opportunity for you all to learn and understand from the best products in this genre.

Being at the Department is not just about attending classes (and even there we often need to call you into class), but about taking advantage of the wider academic culture. You may not realise it now, but it is a huge privilege to have access to the range of speakers, films, seminars, etc that the University provides.

Your participation in the wider intellectual life of the department is what will give you an advantage over those who go to other colleges--remember, it is what makes us (as faculty members) more likely to take note of you and it feeds into our willingness to write recommendation letters!

I hope you will take this seriously--after all, it has taken me a good ten minutes to put my thoughts across!

UR

--

Usha Raman

Head, Department of Communication

Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication

University of Hyderabad

Gachi Bowli

Hyderabad 500034