The St. Stephen’s North-East Society
Founded on the 4th of December, 2015, The St. Stephen’s North-East Society is a student run society that strives to shed light on the social, cultural, and political spheres of the North-East region in the University space, and to create awareness about issues pertaining to the region, as well as encourage discussion and dialogue amongst people from all over the country.
Notwithstanding its name, it houses students from all over the country and promotes the sharing and celebration of different cultures from different regions. Indeed, Khamrosang Buhril, the founding President, writes that the Society came to be called, “The St. Stephen’s North-East Society” and not “North-East Students’ Society,” nor “The North-East Forum,” since it was meant to be more than a society for the North-Eastern students – it was, as Reuben Naulak, a former President, writes, “a society about the North-East, but it would also be for all the students.”
The Society conducts many events throughout the course of the academic year, all of which are conceptualised so as to further our mission: to create a space for the North-Eastern voice. The Society’s largest department, the Cultural Department, hosts various large-scale events scattered throughout the year. The annual festival, Unicolor, is the material manifestation of the different cultures of the North-East; Echoes of the Eight, a Society collaboration with the Music Society gives the student community an opportunity to share and celebrate ethnic music from their homeland; and the North-East Lunch, an event which allows the student community to taste the cuisine that is found in the North-East. Alongside these events, the Society’s Talks and Panel Discussions Department carries out various talks, seminars, lectures, and discussion session throughout the year, sustaining a year-long conversation about the political and cultural affairs of the North-East.
Orchid, the annual journal of the Society, is an enterprise undertaken by the Literary Department of the Society. It gives a platform for students to express their voices and their talent; it is headed by the Editor-in-Chief along with their team members. The journal team also features eminent academicians, office-bearers, and personalities hailing from the North-East.
The Sponsorship Department sustains the various organs of the Society. They conduct outreach programs that enable financial stability for the Society, as well as use the platform of the Society to promote the various businesses, establishments, and associations that cater to, or are run by, people from the North-East.
Documenting the various events and establishing the Society’s presence on social media is managed by the Publicity Department. The Publicity Head along with their team members create posters, images, and videos to be shared on the various social media accounts of the Society. Through this department, the Society is able to stay in touch with its alumni, sustain conversations and create awareness online, as well as stay in touch with other North-East cells and societies of other colleges and universities.
The latest enterprise of the Society is its blog, The Hills are Alive. It was envisioned under the presidentship of Schulu Duo to create a platform in which various articles, informational pieces, book reviews, and opinion pieces from the students of the Society could be shared. It is headed by the Literary Department of the Society. Through this platform, the Society hopes to engage the North-East with a dialogue of many colours with other cultures, as well as allow for self-critique and critical reevaluation of its own ideas, principles, and inherited cultures.
The Hills Are Alive 