Oxford University and India

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Oxford Student Union

2021: Rashmi Samant, elected president

February 12, 2021: The Times of India

K’taka girl is Oxford student union prez

1st Desi Woman To Head Body; Bags More Votes Than Rivals Combined

Manipal:

Rashmi Samant, from Manipal in Karnataka, was elected president of the Oxford Student Union on Thursday — becoming the first Indian woman to occupy the postition. The alumna of Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), MAHE, bagged more votes than the combined count of the other three contestants.

An MSc student in energy systems at Linacre College, Oxford University, Rashmi received 1,966 of the 3,708 votes cast for president. The student union election this year saw a record turnout of 4,881 students who cast 36,405 votes for all posts combined.

Rashmi has listed four main priorities: decolonisation and inclusivity, Covid interventions for all, access to quality mental health resources and decarbonising the university. According to her manifesto, Rashmi intends to lobby the university and Conference of Colleges to remove all statues proven to be imperialist, including that of Christopher Codrington, a Barbados-born colonial governor who attended Christ Church College in 1685. She has also sought residency requirements to be waived till WHO declares the end of the pandemic.

Daughter of Vathsala and Dinesh Samant, Rashmi did her schooling in Manipal and Udupi. Dinesh is a businessman at Parkala near Udupi while Vathsala is a home-maker. Rashmi completed her graduation in mechanical engineering at MIT (2016-2020) and was technical secretary of the student council at MIT. Rashmi was largely behind the launch of Manipal Hackathon, an event to incubate modern digital solutions for societal challenges. She was also instrumental in initiating a number of constructive activities at the institute. As Oxford SU presidential candidate, she had said she wants to lobby to increase funding for mental health strategies and to convince the Conference of Colleges to divest from fossil fuels as soon as possible.