St Joseph's College of Arts and Science's English lecturer gets the boot for airing personal views in class

BENGALURU: St Joseph's College of Arts and Science has sacked an English lecturer for airing his personal views in the class room. The lecturer, Ashley Tellis, however, said his challenging "undemocratic practices" on the campus, and his sexual orientation were the real reasons. Trellis, who joined the college faculty only in November last, is a gay rights activist.

"Sexual orientation is his personal life and we have no problems with that," college principal Victor Lobo said. "But in a classroom, he was supposed to stick to the syllabus. Instead, he was teaching his personal views to students. Students complained that they were disturbed. We had to act in the interest of students."

Trellis told ET that he was airing political views which "I am entitled to do".

Lobo pointed out that Tellis came to the institute with a poor employment record."He had changed so many jobs." In 2010, Tellis was sacked by IIT Hyderabad for "unlawful behaviour." A published author, Tellis has a PhD from the University of Cambridge, for his work on contemporary Irish women's poetry . "My sexual orientation was among the many reasons why I was sacked," Tellis said. "I was called from the middle of class and told that students were upset with my opinions and that I was being relieved with immediate effect. That's a violation of the contract, which requires them to give me a month's notice."

Tellis said the management was irked because he openly challenged some rules. "There are all kinds of undemocratic things happening there. A boy and girl cannot share earphones, they can't hug, girls can't wear leggings or colour their hair. Students were forced to buy a concert ticket for the college fund," he alleged. He did not rule out legal action against the college.