By IANS,
New Delhi : In a move that may bring about peace between the acting head of St. Stephen’s college and its teaching faculty, an additional teacher’s post has been created and the non-Christian candidate who was earlier bypassed by two Christian candidates has been appointed.
Speaking on behalf of the Supreme Council of the prestigious but troubled college, advocate Sunil J. Mathews said Friday that the non-Christian candidate, who is a gold medallist and a former Stephanian, has been given his appointment letter.
“M.S. Frank, the acting head of the college, has created an additional ad hoc teacher’s position in the history department. This will hopefully restore peace between him and the teaching faculty which was upset over filling up both the vacancies in the department with Christian candidates,” Mathews told IANS.
There was a furore when Frank appointed two Christian candidates as ad hoc teachers, preferring them over a non-Christian candidate, a preference fiercely opposed by the teaching faculty of the college.
Though a minority institution, St. Stephen’s does not have a quota in teaching appointments. But other things being equal, it does give preference to a Christian candidate, the Supreme Council had said Thursday.
“Of course, we give preference to Christian candidates. If there are two applicants with equal minimum qualification and one is a Christian while the other is not, preference will be given to the former. But in no way will the standard of education in the college be compromised,” Matthews had said at a press conference Thursday.
Supreme Council members breathed a sigh of relief after Friday’s development.
“After the furore, there were two options. One, that the appointments were withdrawn and second that an additional post be created to accommodate the third candidate. Frank chose the latter,” Mathews said.
“The Supreme Council had taken over the role of a peacemaker. With the latest development, hopefully peace will be restored.”