A US-based researcher has turned down an offer from St. Stephen’s College citing “hostile circumstances” and “communalisation” in the appointment of faculty members at the premier Delhi University institution.

Dr. Cecil Joseph, a Stephen’s alumnus and currently an adjunct faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (Umass Lowell) from where he holds a Doctorate in Physics, acted after insinuations over his religious background even as his academic merit was overlooked. “With much anguish I have to say that I am deeply distressed at the way my appointment is being politicised as I gather from various sources...I consider this to be a personal affront...” he said in an email to Reverend Valson Thampu, principal, St. Stephen’s College.

“The communalisation of my appointment (going by the information available to me) is a piece of injustice,” Dr. Joseph added. He was interviewed on March 26 and appointed an Assistant Professor in the Physics Department following approval by a nine-member selection committee.

Dr. Joseph was among 114 candidates interviewed for the post of Assistant Professor.

The selection process for potential faculty members commenced on March 9 and concluded on April 6.

Days later, however, Dr. Joseph wrote to the college administration declining the job offer over, according to him, an impression that his appointment was based on “something other than...academic merit”.

“Under such circumstances I find it difficult to accept the offer. No serious and self-respecting academic can work in hostile circumstances and do justice either to the institution or to his own potential,” Dr. Joseph further said.

When contacted, Rev. Thampu said the incident seemed to be fallout of “a vilification campaign set in motion by those who want their writ to run large in college affairs fuelled by a communal mindset.”

Rev. Thampu said a campaign seemed to have been mounted by some disgruntled elements among the old boys, in utter disregard of the facts, to discredit the appointment of Christian candidates at the college. “There is a dogmatic assumption that Christians are not good enough to make the cut,” Rev. Thampu told The Hindu .

According to an insider, when in 2010 a similar selection procedure was conducted, 25 appointments were made of whom only one was a Christian.

“The college was not communal when only one Christian was appointed; this time around, the best candidates happened to be Christians in all selections made unanimously by the nine-member selection committee. They were selected on the basis of their merit,” said a source.

‘No serious and self-respecting academic can work in hostile circumstances’