For decades, Delhi’s elite St Stephen’s College has been the hallmark of academic excellence with a fair mix of students from various faiths.
NEW DELHIl: For decades, Delhi’s elite St Stephen’s College has been the hallmark of academic excellence with a fair mix of students from various faiths.
But the exalted status of the “minority institution” has of late come under a cloud with alumni and a section of the faculty claiming the Church of North India (CNI) is going “out of its way” to seize control.
The Delhi bishop’s suggestion to slash the admission cutoff percentage for Christian students to just 60% to fill up the 50% quota has kicked up a storm.
It has created fissures among the faculty and dismayed the alumni, which feel conceding the demand would “ruin the academic excellence” of the college.
Many feel the “unnecessary” interference of the Delhi bishop and college supreme council chairman Sunil Singh in the admission procedure indicates that the Church wants to tighten its grip over the institution.
“The supreme council and, through it, the CNI has taken over the admission procedure. We have no objection to their decision to increase the quota, but a flat 60% cutoff for Christian candidates is a silly idea. The faculty should have been consulted on the issue as it’s a college matter,” a faculty member said.
A member of the college’s governing body said a handful of people were trying to control the college.
“I am sure the decision to implement a 60% cutoff for Christian candidates wasn’t unanimous. One or two people in the supreme council are calling the shots and they don’t consider it necessary to involve the governing body in such important issues. Without the governing body’s approval, the admission procedure is illegal. The bishop, however, doesn’t seem to be concerned,” the governing body member said.
While the supreme council has stepped back ever since the cutoff decision drew flak from all quarters, some of its members are justifying the move in hushed tones saying it was necessary “to protect the Christian fabric” of the institution.
The alumni, though, have a different take.
“From what I can remember, St Stephen’s never had more than 20% Christian candidates. It was always a rich blend of students from different cultures. The college was never meant for Christian students alone, though it was set up by people from the community. The agenda was to instill Christian learning into people of other faiths, but that doesn’t seem to be happening now. The supreme council is trying to convert the institution into a ‘Christians only’ college,” former student Cedric Misquith said.
The faculty has already shot off a letter to the bishop, seeking an emergency meeting of the governing body. The letter also questions the supreme council’s interference in the admission procedure, otherwise a prerogative of the college.
Another section of the faculty supporting the bishop too has pushed its point.
Head of the mathematics department Nandita Narain said in a letter, “I totally disagree with the contention that the supreme council has usurped the authority of the governing body in announcing the admission policy. As per a 1992 supreme court judgment, the college has the right to draft its own admission policy owing to its ‘minority institution’ status.”
y_puneet@dnaindia.net
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