Everywhere a quota

What both sides of the debate miss, and apparently take great pains to disavow through their rhetoric of fairness, is the day to day working of the admissions procedure. Along with existing quotas such as sports, there are un-articulated and non-visible forms of selection taking place. It would be naive to think that prior to interview day, phone calls are not being made in order to shift the selection procedure one way or another.

There is also a quota-based system taking place within Stephen8217;s, one that has colonised how its own history is seen by future and past generations. A certain class or economic bracket of persons is often seen coagulating around good ol8217; Rothas8217; dhaba, smoking and 8216;ragging8217; on everyone else. Such practices go a long way in engendering Stephania. Those who refuse to participate in such practices are dismissed as non Stephanian, 8216;locals8217; or 8216;sciencees8217;.

The institute generates a particular consensus about what constitutes normal college life, and such consensus is passed down from generation to generation. Talk to a certain bunch of ex-Stephanians, and you will hear nostalgic stories about Alnut North, Muk East, and eating mince. When I was a student there, Amitav Ghosh came in to eat mince. What I found disgusting before suddenly developed an aura of history and purpose. Nostalgia about college is generated through a series of practices and habits 8212; it is born out of a certain selection procedure.

So yes, selection does take place in the day-to-day workings of Stephen8217;s, in its production of memory, myth and nostalgia, and those who are not involved in such elaborate rhetorical procedures are left out. When I was a student there, activism was frowned upon and was not a part of the dominant history. Activism of any form did not have the capacity to join its own memories and practices with anything the institution had in place. It was dis-articulated and out of joint and had no place in the memory of the college. Selection, rejection and quotas 8212; far from being a new idea 8212; are at the core of college life.

So, what about Dalit Christians? Crudely put, is it ok to have them get all these seats or not ok? Both answers require us to assume a particular set of principles about what constitutes the college8217;s legacy, future and day-to-day practices. Both answers hinge around issues of social responsibility, exclusion, inclusion and fairness. What both forget is that all ethical or political decisions have to have, as their core, an unknowability, pure chance, pure madness. Rev. Thampu8217;s decision is probably the most politically sophisticated move possible today, especially in the context of Stephen8217;s rehearsed conservatism: a gamble that will transform the very nature of what constitutes its history.

The writer is co-founder of the SOAS South Asian Media Research Collective, Sacred Media Cow, sacredmediacow.com