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To All the Alumni and Well-wishers of the American College
Dhyanchand Carr
I am giving a brief write up on the college and also the present troubles the college is facing and the legal and political steps that are being taken to restore the College to its original vision and standing in society.
The Vision of the Founding Fathers:
American Madura Mission founded many educational institutions from Primary to Secondary level of education as part of their missionary endeavour to help the new Converts. They founded the American College about 128 years ago, with a different vision as the preamble to the Constitution clearly shows. The College was founded in order that liberal Christian education may be imparted to all without any difference to people of all castes and creeds, in order that they may be equipped to serve God and humankind. The word Christian is used as an adjective further qualified by another adjective ‘liberal’, which in facts means to impart laudable human values to people of all faiths and races.
The management of the institution was handed over to a Governing Board comprising 14 members with two representatives from the Diocese including the Bishop, one representative from the Synod of the Church of South India, two representatives to be nominated by the All India Association of Christian Higher Education from within TamilNadu, The Principal, Vice Principal and Bursar as Ex-officio members and two members from the faculty, one from the University of Madurai three members to be co-opted by these nominees. Once every two years a Chairperson was to be chosen from among them to chair the meetings.
Quite a few years later, i.e. in the sixties the Board of its own volition felt that it would be courteous to request the Bishop to be the Chairperson and the practice of electing a chairperson once every two years was given up. All administrative authority is otherwise totally vested in the Principal who is also the Secretary of the Society. None of the four Bishops prior to Bp Asir got it into their heads that simply by virtue of their position as Chair of the Board made the College an institution of the Diocese. So far the College has lived upto its vision of serving society at large and has earned the reputation that it is an institution of excellence. Its policies of recruitment and admissions have been commendably fair because they are done collectively by duly appointed committees giving little room for corruption or partiality.
As far as Bishop Asir is concerned he has himself admitted that he has to indulge in corruption in order to make up for the expenses incurred in getting the appointment. He is nepotic to the core and has never sought to deny it. He daringly claims that his members of the family appointed to various positions of power in the Diocese are the best suited for those positions. Worst of all he is bent upon making the Christian Institution which has been serving the whole society to be converted into an institution for the exclusive usage of Christians. He has not hesitated to corrupt some key officials, and deploy thugs with the abettal of bought police officers However, by the grace of God the Director of Collegiate Education, quite a few Judges of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court and the Revenue Officials in charge of law and order… have been fair. In spite of this on the 28th of August he managed to get an injunction temporarily setting aside the order of the Directorate of Collegiate Education which upholds the position of the Principal and then forcibly entered the College and installed a man of his choice as the acting Principal and Secretary of the College.
An usurper supported by a temporary injunction and protected by police is in the Principal’s Chair. He needs to be evicted. So a multi faceted legal battle has to be fought. A bogus governing body has been set up. This needs to be challenged. Legal expenses are frighteningly high even with a dedicated advocate and his team claiming very modest fees and the actual expenses. Public meetings have had to be held. Leaflets explaining the problem had to be printed and distributed in large numbers as the major media power is at the service of the bishop. Teachers who have refused to accept the fraudulently imposed principal face the prospects of going without pay.
So JAC-G under the leadership of Prof Solomon Pappiah a popular tv personality, former student and teacher at the college have appointed a small committee to raise funds, keep accounts and to keep the donors informed. We request those who are able, to make liberal donations.
Thanking you in anticipation,
Dhyanchand Carr
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