St. Stephen's College, Delhi

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For other St. Stephen's Colleges, see: St. Stephen's College (disambiguation)

St. Stephen's College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi located in Delhi, India. The college admits both undergraduates and post-graduates, and awards degrees under the purview of the University of Delhi. St. Stephen's is widely recognized as one of India's leading institutions in the liberal arts and the sciences.^[1][2][3][4]Since its founding in 1881, the college has produced a long line of outstanding alumni^[5][6]. Students and alumni of the college are called Stephanians.

In a contentious development, the Principal, Dr Anil Wilson, has been granted leave to serve as the Vice-Chancellor of Himachal University. A search for a temporary replacement has been launched.

[edit] Introduction

St. Stephen's College is a coeducational institution of higher learning located on University Enclave on the campus of the University of Delhi. It has students and teachers from all communities and from all parts of India, and some from abroad. The college was founded on 1 February 1881, by the Cambridge Brotherhood, an Anglican mission from Westcott House, Cambridge, England. The Rev. Samuel Scott Allnutt was its founder and first principal. The anniversary of his death is observed as Founder's Day on 7 December every year.^[7]

The college has a large and attractive campus, designed by the distinguished architect Walter Sykes George, and completed in 1941. In addition to the academic buildings, there is a library containing over ninety thousand books. The college playing fields are located between Kashmiri Gate & Mori Gate in Old Delhi; there are facilities for playing tennis, basketball and soccer on the college campus itself. The Francis Monk gymnasium, the Ladies Common Room, and the Junior Common Room provide facilities for indoor sports. The college chapel is open to all members for worship and meditation. The college has six residence blocks which allow around 300 men and 54 women to reside on the premises. Student clubs and societies have always played an important role in the life of the college. Each academic subject there is a society which sponsors lectures and discussions. The popular extra-curricular societies and clubs cover areas like debating, dramatics, hiking, film, social service, photography, and astronomy.^[7]

[edit] College Motto and Colours

The College motto is Ad Dei Gloriam, the Latin for To the Glory of God. The College colours are martyrs' red and Cambridge blue.

The badge is a martyrs' crown on a field of martyrs' red, within a five pointed star, edged with Cambridge blue. Around the five pointed star which stands for India, is the Cambridge blue border, representing the impact of Cambridge upon India, for the College was founded by the members of the Cambridge Mission to Delhi. On the ground, which is coloured red to represent Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, in whose memory the College is built, stands the martyrs' crown in gold.^[7]

[edit] History

St. Stephen's College: first day cover of stamp issued by the Government of India to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the college in 1981.

Founded in 1881 by the Cambridge Mission in response to Government policy promoting English-language education in India, the College's first premises were in Chandni Chowk with 5 boarders and three professors, and was initially part of the University of Calcutta. After it changed its affiliation to Punjab University Lahore, it moved into premises in Kashmiri Gate designed in the Indo-Saracenic style, now occupied by the Election Commission for Delhi State).

In 1906, Principal Rev. Hibbert-Ware abdicated his post in favour of Susil Kumar Rudra who became the first Indian to head a major educational institution in India. The decision was frowned upon at the time, and was the subject of scathing editorial comment in The Statesman daily published from Calcutta, but Principal Rudra proved to have a tenure of extraordinary importance for the college, as will be seen in the next section.

In 1920, the decision was taken to set up a University in Delhi and land was earmarked in the area where the Delhi Durbar of 1911 had been held. The new College buildings were laid out around courts in the style of a transplanted Cambridge college (but with certain tropical elements) by the well-known British architect Walter Sykes George.

Women were first admitted in 1928, as there were no women's colleges in Delhi affiliated with the Anglican Church at the time; after the founding of Miranda House in 1949, women were not accepted as students until 1978.

[edit] A Larger Role

From the time of its inception, St.Stephen's has played a pre-eminent role both in the field of education and in the affairs of the nation. It was senior faculty of the college who floated the idea of founding the University of Delhi;^[8]later, the college was influential in the founding of two outstanding Indian public schools, the Doon School and Modern School^[9].

Significantly, in 1914, C. F. Andrews, then a lecturer in Philosophy in the College, discussed over breakfast with Principal Rudra and other faculty the possibility of bringing back to India the leader of the Indian political rights movement in South Africa.^[10]When Andrews finally persuaded Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to return and take over the Indian freedom struggle, the latter stayed several times in the Principal's house, both during Rudra's tenure and that of his successor, Satya Nand Mukarji. The letter to the Viceroy announcing the commencement of the first Non-Cooperation Movement was drafted at the Principal's dining table. A photograph in the Principal's office shows Mahatma Gandhi with the student body in 1915.

Andrews was himself active in the freedom struggle, and was named 'Deenbandhu' (or, 'Friend of the Poor') by Mahatma Gandhi on account of his work with the needy and with the trade union movement. A portrait of C. F. Andrews by his close friend Rabindranath Tagore currently hangs in the Principal's office. It is believed that Tagore completed the English translation of Gitanjali, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, while a guest of the College^[10].

After independence in 1947 and for the next two decades, St. Stephen's became particularly known for the large number of prominent civil servants it had produced;^[11]at one point in the 1970s, two-thirds of all secretary-level positions in the Indian Administrative Service were occupied by Stephanians^[11]. However, starting in the late 1970s, that picture began to change. Today, Stephanians are to be found in the sciences, the media, literature, politics and sports, among other fields. For example, the college is one of the few institutions that can count among its alumni the heads of state of three different countries : Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed of India, Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan, and Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania and the OAU.

[edit] College Principals

• Samuel Scott Allnutt, Founder and first principal, 1881-1898.
• John Wright, Second Principal. 1899-1902
• The Rev. G. Hibbert Ware, Third Principal. 1902-1906.
• Sushil Kumar Rudra, Fourth Principal. 1906-1923.
• The Rev. Francis Frank Monk, Fifth Principal. 1923-1926.
• Satya Nand Mukarji, Sixth Principal. 1926-1945.
• David Raja Ram, Seventh Principal. 1945-1960.
• Satish Chandra Sircar, Eighth Principal. 1960-1972.
• The Rev. William Shaw Rajpal, Ninth Principal, 1972-1984.
• Dr.John H.Hala, Tenth Principal. 1984-1991.
• Dr. Anil Wilson, Eleventh Principal. 1991-

[edit] Alumni: Stephanians

Main article: Stephanians

[edit] External links

• http://www.ststephens.edu (Official website)
• http://ase.tufts.edu/chemistry/kumar/ssc/html/sschis.html (History of "the college").

[edit] Notes