Ex St Stephen's principal explains why he's sick of the college

Last night my attention was drawn by an alumnus to a video posted on a new FB page titled Stephensshallrise (Stephen's shall rise). I nearly threw up. My stomach rose in anguish, a current of anger shot through my spine.

I saw a man called John Varghese, who happens to be the principal of St Stephen's college, standing alone on the stage in the college Hall.

The head of a department, on his feet and in full flow, was barking at John. A pack of students was shouting the principal down, in support of the teacher, whose conduct was more akin to that of a local don. Nothing could be heard.

The poor animal called principal stood silent. Unable to quit. Unable to cope. Suffering in silence the sort of indignity that even animals cannot be subjected to.

Is this how we train young minds for democracy and courteous, civilised conduct?

I continued to watch, with darkness invading my eyes. I saw a large crowd of students assemble outside the house of the principal. They were shouting slogans. It is the kind of scene you see in riots. I was a student in St Stephen's. For the two years that I was (1971-73) a PG student, I did not venture to go near the principal's house. (Alumni, who have not forgotten their Alma Mater would understand this.)

Not because I was a coward; but because a sense of reverence towards the college and respect for elders was deemed basic to being Stephanian. Now defiance and coercion, threat and abuse, seem to be the norm.

The tragedy is that all this is inspired, nay instigated, by certain faculty members. (How can I call them "teachers"?)

The video then showcases another teacher who announces, to the wild applause of students, who are already too worked up to think rationally, how all teachers are going to overpower the Principal with non-cooperation.

She makes the announcement like driving the last nail on the coffin of the Principal. A public display of callous defiance, just because the Principal would not obey like a slave! Oh, my masters and ancestors, what role models, these?

Visualise these scenes, my readers. It is a whole crowd against one man. All the posturing and grandstanding, threats and abuses, these brayings of cowardly heroism and cheap defiance, are facilitated by this inequality and the presumption of immunity. The perpetrators of this atrocity know that the system is too weak even to look this boorishness in the face.

The very same faculty member maligned me to the effect that I was "mired in sexual harassment cases" in an interview given to the New Indian Express. When the GB took cognisance of the defamation, spread nationwide, and appointed a preliminary fact-finding committee to look into the matter, the offender concerned obtained a stay from the High Court.

John was accused by the same person of intimidating the lady teachers who are members of the GB.

A public apology was demanded of him. This was announced to the students. They applauded the demand. It is now reported to be baseless. What happens to the students who applauded the falsehood? Good exercises in character-building, right?

Friends, this is the plight of one of the best colleges in the country, situated in the capital city. Think of the general academic scenario. It is scary, to say the least.

We are sleeping over a time-bomb ticking away ominously. I am shocked that people do not mind their children being influenced by such "teachers" and environments.

I would not have sent my children within miles of such a den of depravity.

What is life worth, when all its sanctities are compromised and the flow of blood becomes indistinguishable from the rush of the sewer?

I have serious problem in calling this education. Call this, training in impertinence. In irrationality. In unleashing violence on the defenseless. In overpowering right with might. Call this by any name, but don't call this education. I pray thee, don't insult education to that extent.

I fought a bleeding battle to check the rise of boorishness and sub-human cussedness in St Stephen's from 2007 till the last day of my tenure. I must say I have failed. Today I accept defeat. The rest is silence.

I remember visiting Dr Anil Wilson, my immediate predecessor, a few weeks before his death in 2009. He was wholly weak and confined to bed.

At the end of a brief conversation, as I was leaving, he asked, "Valson, do you think you can run the college?" I was taken aback. I stood still thinking within myself. He continued. "No, you can't. Nobody can."

I refused to believe him. I fought this unthinkable prospect hard. Fought it with my life.

I now agree with Anil Wilson. May his soul rest in peace.

St Stephen's is being turned into the very opposite of what it was meant to be. It is an insult to the founding fathers to perpetuate this self-contradiction.

The management has to take a call. They can tarry no further than they have. Either bring the college back on line with the originating vision of St Stephen's college.

Or, if it cannot be redeemed at all, organise a sober funeral, with teachers and karmacharis as pall bearers. Running a college merely to arm and equip youngsters in the art of defiance and irrationality, overpowering every constitutional provision and legal propriety with primeval violence, is not envisaged in Article 30(1).

The college cannot claim minority rights so long as it does not stand and live by the spiritual culture of the faith in whose name these rights are claimed and exercised. To do that is to perpetrate a hoax on the nation.

The management can no longer look the other way.

The ultimate test faces them here and now. How they negotiate this crisis is not only a test of their individual maturity, but also of the mettle of the biblical faith they represent.

Jesus died, rather than compromise with the might of Rome which scorned right. Frankly, every time might is unleashed, right suffers. This is now the norm in St Stephen's. And the insult daily heaped on it.

If students, teachers and karmacharis can veto decisions of the Governing Body, using no argument except brute force, then it is better to dispense with the Governing Body.

If I were a member of the GB, I would not want to be a clown who is a party to decisions that are overturned by undergraduates. Take decisions after mature considerations. Once taken, stick to your decisions even at peril of death. Nothing less is governance.

If I were John Varghese, I would close down the college than let it be held to ransom by buccaneers of blackmail and coercion. I would draw the bottom-line of rule of law and refuse to bend or budge.

It is a disservice to the society to run an educational institution as St Stephen's now threatens to become. I am amazed that the alumni are either playing a partisan role, hostile to the traditions and ethos of the college, or keeping a deafening silence. They are believed to love the college.

There is a proverb in Malayalam to the effect that the fence is plundering the harvest. The role of the fence is to protect. If, instead, it becomes a thief, a beast of plunder and vandalism, what hope can there be?

The time to face the reality has come indeed. I call upon the management to stand up to the hour.

St Stephen's was established to extend the arm of service to the society at large from within the spiritual core of the biblical faith. If the life and character of the institution have now become a blatant contradiction of that tradition, it is dishonest and irresponsible to pretend to be governing the college.

Stop singing before your voice cracks altogether and the distinction between singing and braying disappears. Ultimately, no one will blame the teachers who are instigating this anarchy. History will judge you. The buck stops with you.