COLLECTIVE WISDOM & COLLECTIVE MADNESS

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Prof. RAJENDRA PANDIAN

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The “naked nepotism” of the Bishop is only an extension of the “unclothed cronyism” we had been practicing at various levels. To cap it all, we made a no body into “No: 3” and in turn they have made him into “No: 1”. What big difference do you find? Of course “Asir himself” had to execute this “laughable elevation of the son-in-law” as our own ‘visionaries’ were not there this time to do it for him. A “servile and illegal makeshift governing council” has helped him in the process as the ‘servile and legal’ council is not there either; now it also is on the makeshift mode fighting for the legitimacy lost. 

It’s true that the Bishop thinks he has” limitless power under the sun and could do whatever he wants to do”.  Were the administrators we had in recent times very different from him? Where are those two Principals who vied with each other in promoting “this utterly incompetent person” in question? Are they not obligated to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us in the ongoing fight? Where are they and why are they coy to enter the campus after their retirement? How come they visit ‘Ashok Bhavan’ and ‘Thamukkam grounds’ but not the college campus? Is this the breed of leaders this organization groomed spending so much from its resources? One is like a Hardyan character who leaves his native village never to be heard of again. And the other is like an African military junta who simply flees the country after all his attempts to stay in power fail. 

A sizable number of the faculty supporting the Bishop and his son-in-law—a fact that the Fulbrighter (Mr.G.P.Reuben) rues—can perhaps be attributed to the “collective madness” which is a byproduct of the “collective wisdom” Prof. Lawrence has mentioned. The Nehruvian belief that ancient civilizations—or, institutions in this context—that can boast of such wisdom are also prone to this madness at one point or other seems true. The madness in our case manifested itself in the form of full-blown sycophancy and large scale thought-policing on campus induced by lure of benefits; fear of harassment; or both from the top. It remains embarrassingly rhetorical what I, we, and our democratic forums such as the Faculty floor, Senatus, Governing Council; or even the Teachers’ Union did to counter the cutting-edge maladministration the college was experiencing in yesteryears.

Besides fighting the Bishop—no doubt we all will to the very end—I should also admit how amusing it is to visualize for a second Dr.Christober’s picture hanging along with that of those starting from Rev.Dr.Washburn.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  

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