Known for discipline, Stephen's in gagging row

Delhi’s St Stephen’s College, the co-educational institution of higher learning known for its high standards and discipline, was recently in news for all wrong reasons as its principal Valson Thampu was caught in an unseemly row over the gag on a student online magazine, which initially had his blessings.

The controversy moved to its tipping point on April 15 when Thampu slapped a 10-day suspension order on third year student of Philosophy (Hons) Devansh Mehta, editor and co-founder of ‘St Stephen’s Weekly’, on the grounds that he launched the e-magazine without his express permission. An in-house inquiry constituted by the principal also indicted Mehta for calling e-zine’s mere ‘suspension’ a ‘ban’ and then ‘mobilising’ the press.

But two days later, the Delhi High Court put on hold the disciplinary action after the student challenged the suspension as well as the order ‘banning’ the publication of the Weekly. The student claimed that it violated his right of free speech. Support for free speech came from students and alumni of the college following the student’s run-in with the principal over the gag order.

“Guys, we are having our strongest show of strength tomorrow at 1.15 pm outside the Mukherjee Nagar gate. We are calling all the Stephenians who are thoroughly fed up with Thampu and his high-handedness,” a message sent by one of the students after Mehta’s suspension read.

“It wouldn’t be just the current college students, it is going to be teachers, our seniors, super seniors, super-super seniors, in fact seniors all the way till the 1950 batch of St Stephen’s College,” the message further said. Some students even started an online petition asking Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal not to attend the college graduation ceremony, where Mehta was earlier supposed to receive an award.

In what was termed as a ‘vindictive’ action by Thampu, Mehta’s name was struck off a list of college prize winners. “…Recommending a student who has been indicted for indisciplined behaviour is an insult to the dead person as it is to the living college,” the notice issued by Thampu, a day after the student editor’s suspension, said. Mehta was shortlisted for the Banarsi Das Memorial Prize, which is given to an undergraduate student of philosophy or economics for showing a “high standard of personal behaviour and a marked degree of curricular and co-curricular interaction”.

The High Court in its hearing on April 17 directed that the award not be given to any student till Mehta’s plea was disposed of. One of the former students, Romyorup Mitra, who signed the petition asking Kejriwal not attend the graduation ceremony said, “He (Thampu) may be well within his right to order suspension. But the larger question here is about curtailment of freedom.” The suspended publication carried an interview with Thampu, which many claim turned out to be not to his liking.

“You think I will have a dialogue with people who are idiotic?” he said in the interview with the suspended student editor. Thampu was speaking about another student who faced suspension last year for allegedly questioning the college administration’s drive to remove plastic cups from the canteen. To various questions posed by the student, Thampu candidly talked about lack of infrastructural facilities in college, lack of vision of the Department of Physical Education and the financial crisis being faced by the college.
On whether he wants St Stephen's to become an autonomous body, the principal remarked that the college had "everything it takes to become a top university in the country", but it was not possible because of “resistance of the faculty”. But Thampu later claimed that he had no problems with the publication. He said, he suspended the e-zine because the student “breached the trust and understanding reached with him”.

‘Victim of attack’
“I requested Mr (SR) Ayde, on the ground that he is the Senior Tutor, to counsel the student concerned on the question. His patient efforts failed, and the student persisted with the posture of defiance,” Thampu said. Ayde led the one-man inquiry committee constituted to probe the matter. The panel had reported that there was "no ambiguity" that the students would publish the e-zine with the consent of the principal.

However, days after the court’s stay on the student’s suspension order, the principal called the unpleasantness over Stephen’s Weekly an act of “vandalism”. In a letter about the controversy, he portrayed himself as a victim of “unwarranted attack”, and blamed those with “money and clout” for victimising him and the college. “The present student community should know that if I were to favour the rich and powerful in admissions, half of them would not have been in St Stephen’s… It is for their sake that I am being hounded and pilloried. I am happy to be so,” he wrote.

In his letter, he was critical of the media coverage of the “Dismissal Service” (graduation ceremony) and said that the reports saying he “wanted to prevent Kejriwal from giving the certificate to the boy concerned” misrepresented facts. “Nothing is what it seems,” he wrote.  He also took a jibe at a section of college alumni, which mobilised support for Mehta, calling them “malevolent old boys”. The Association of Old Stephanians, in response, said Thampu’s letter was “derogatory and contemptuous” and insisted that he should step down.

“It is shameful that after having damaged the St Stephen’s College as institution, he has the temerity to paint himself as a victim. He and he solely is responsible for his present predicament,” Ashish Joshi, media coordinator of the association, said. “Writing is on the wall. Thampu stands fully exposed and it is high time that he gracefully gave up the post of principal to make way for a person who is in consonance with the values, spirit and ethos of Stephania,” Joshi added.