College offers democracy for students to address issues, says MCC principal amid protests

Chennai: After recent protests over allegations of harrasment and moral policing by the students of Madras Christian College, the college management has undertaken orientation of the faculty on addressing the issues of the students at the college.

Read more: In pics: Moral policing, humiliation, verbal abuse of MCC students leads to protest in campus

"These issues have come up mainly due to inter-generational gaps. We have a Students Grievance Commitee, which was functioning online so far, but we have scheduled it periodically through offline mode as well. The college offers a very democratic set up so the students could raise the issues. We have addressed all the issues," said Paul Wilson, Principal of the College.

He said that the required action has been taken in the case of alleged sexual harrasment case and the complaint was withdrawn by the reported victim in the case.

On the reported allegations of moral policing, the Principal said that we have understood that the behaviour of the students has been staggered as they have come to college after about two years of online classes, when they had their own space and freedom. We are accountable to parents in moderating the public behaviour of students and we are taking the steps to ensure that there are no further concerns from their end," he said.

The college has also activated the mental health programmes through the student counsellor and faculty members have been oriented on staggered behavioural patterns of the students and intergenerational conflicts.