Stand–off at St. Stephen’s come to an end, Bishop Masih calls for truce

New Delhi – The stand–off between Bishop Karam Masih, the Church of North India (CNI) bishop of Delhi diocese and the chairman of the supreme council of the prestigious St. Stephen’s college, and Dr. Anil Wilson, its principal has ended with Bishop Masih calling a truce and requesting Dr. Wilson to withdraw his resignation.

On September 8, a press conference was convened in which Dr. Wilson and Bishop Masih made a joint statement saying that they had buried their differences stemming from an admission controversy.

Earlier, Dr. Wilson had said that he was stepping down after the supreme council put undue pressure on him to agree to "unauthorised admissions" of students from Christian backgrounds and others rather than those justified on the basis of academic performance.

The row was apparently sparked off by a recommendation from the bishop to admit a jeweller's daughter whose academic performance was not up to standard. Several college staff and alumni rallied behind the principal, questioning the church's right to interfere in the admission process.

In the controversy that was starting to gather dust, Dr. Wilson announced his resignation, thereby attracting the attention of the media.

The Supreme Council was to meet on September 14 to discuss Wilson’s resignation but fortunately, the matter was resolved earlier without spilling any “blood.”

Stressing that Dr. Wilson’s “functioning had been beyond any reproach,” Bishop Masih said that his greatest concern was to protect the Christian character of the college and the minorities.

The turnaround, Dr. Wilson said, came after Bishop Karam Masih called him in the morning to pray together. “After that we decided to resolve all our differences. He said that he doesn’t want me to go and also said that he admired the stand I had taken on the matter,” he said.

Stating that he “upholds the moral and ethical domain of the Principal,” especially in the admissions process, Bishop Masih said that he “regretted” any past incidents wherein the Principal’s domain over admissions had been infringed.

Dr. Wilson, on his part, thanked the Chairman for his “confidence and support” and said he will “uphold St. Stephen’s as a Christian institution” and a “precious national heritage.”

"This kind of clash between the principal and the chairman does happen in some of our institutions," said Dr. Mani Jacob, general secretary of the All India Association for Christian Higher Education (AIACHE), an ecumenical forum of 310 government–affiliated Christian colleges. Noting that the "immense popularity" of St Stephen's College meant the spat had become a topic for debate on television channels, Dr. Jacob said, “In the name of merit, some of our institutions do not give enough admission to our members especially from the weaker sections.”

The Rev. Valson Thampu, a former vice–principal of the college who resigned in 2002 in protest against the admission policy, told Ecumenical News International (ENI) that many Christians find the leading Christian institutions such as St Stephen's "inaccessible" because of “elitism.”

According to Rev. Thampu, Christian administrators of such institutions "invoke" minority rights when dealing with the government. “But, when it comes to Christian students, it is merit and elite background that matters more,” he said.

Rev. Thampu, who is a member of the National Commission for Minority Education, had also suggested that Dr. Wilson apologise to the Church, specially Bishop Masih for the “derogatory remarks” he made against them.

"The vilification of church leaders undertaken in this context is thus directed at the community all over the country. I would, therefore, request Dr Wilson to withdraw his defamatory statements and apologise to the community," he said.

However, when contacted, Dr. Wilson denied making any “derogatory remarks” and stated that all he did was suggest the supporters of the Bishop to keep out of the matter. “They are just servants of the church. They should stick to religion and keep themselves out of education where they have no expertise. I am a churchman and I will not stand anything said against my beliefs,” he said.

In this regard, Bishop Masih also clarified the demand for an apology from Wilson put forth by the Church of North India (CNI). “It’s unfortunate that some members of the Church were communicating false statements to the press,” he said. “I mentioned on the very first day when Dr Wilson gave in his resignation that it was not going to be accepted. Now everything has been resolved. Dr Wilson is an integral part of the college.”

Sources close to Dr. Wilson say that the truce, welcomed by all, was but inevitable, because according to the college constitution, his resignation can only be accepted or rejected by the governing body and not the supreme council. The governing body includes some teachers of the college, a representative of the vice chancellor, some members of the church and former students of the college and most of the members of the body, if not all, were backing Dr. Wilson for his “integrity.”