St Stephen's College Principal Valson Thampu, facing flak from the alumni for "curbing" freedom of speech by suspending a student-run e-zine weekly, has defended the move saying it is in accordance with the institution's discipline norms.
In an open letter titled, "St Stephen's and freedom of thought-what I wish I did not have to write," Mr Thampu has said, "I feel greatly embarrassed not so much by the attack mounted on me as by the awkwardness of some of the alumni cutting such a sorry figure, intellectually, in public."
The weekly e-zine, which was started by a group of four students from the college, went live on March 7 and registered over 2000 hits on an interview of Mr Thampu, following which he ordered suspension of the publication for not taking his clearance for the issue.
The move had invited criticism from reputed college alumni including former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi and former Delhi Lokayukta Justice Manmohan Sarin, who had requested Mr Thampu to reconsider his decision which they thought was 'extreme' and 'disproportionate'.
Mr Thampu further wrote that publishing the interview without waiting for his clearance, the transcript of which was mailed to him, "was, apart from other things, a gross betrayal of trust. It also flouted the basic discipline and core tradition of the college."
At the end of the recounting is a note from the remaining three founders of St Stephen's Weekly, two from second year and one from first, who, Mr Thampu says, had warned him that their senior was talking to the media about the magazine because they "got cheated."
He even agreed for an interview and 'self-appointed' himself as the Staff Advisor for the weekly.
Mr Thampu's open letter, however, carries a purported statement sent by the remaining three members of the group to Thampu saying, "We would like to inform you that one of our co-founders, Devansh Mehta has contacted the media to run an article on the suspension of St Stephen's Weekly.
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