Hyderabad: Research activity at the University of Hyderabad would commence from Friday, interim vice-chancellor Vipin Srivastava said on Thursday, even as he appealed to protesting students to help the administration in restoring normalcy at the central varsity.

Students have been protesting the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a PhD student, who, along with four other students, was barred from the university hostel. The death of Vemula on 17 January sparked protests across the country bringing into limelight the issue of discrimination against Dalit students at academic institutions.

Srivastava said university authorities on Thursday had succeeded in convincing some students and faculty to cooperate with the administration but refused to provide any names.

“Fortunately our students are showing signs of cooperation from today onwards,” Srivastava said at a press conference held amidst police security, 18 km away from the university campus. “Today we persuaded them, we requested them; they showed cooperation. We are hoping tomorrow the cooperation would be of a higher degree.”

The interim VC said attempts would be made to begin some classes from Friday. But added, “we sincerely hope that by Saturday the classes should start.”

[“source-Livemint”]