The following are the guidelines for establishing and running a Chapter of the St Stephen’s College Alumni Association. These guidelines have been framed with the interest of alumni in mind in order to offer them a formal and recognised platform for their activities as former students of the College. These Chapters may be established in any part of the world subject to the following conditions. 

I. Mandatory requirements for Chapter formation

A. The purpose of the Chapter will be to

1. Facilitate meetings, interactions and generation of goodwill for former students of the College within a demarked, geographical area both in India and across the world.

2. To support the College in three distinct ways namely academic, social and financial and to take forward the larger objectives of excellence and service for and in College.

3. Chapters will not promote or subscribe to the promotion of individual or commercial interests.

B. A minimum of five individual alumni is the number required to initiate a Chapter. A Letter of Intent to start a chapter with the names and signatures of these five members must be sent to the Alumni Office at College as a hard copy or through an email to alumni@ststephens.edu along with a one-time Registration Fee of INR 10,000/ (ten thousand only).

C. Only former students of the College and those teachers who have served a minimum five years continuously in College, are eligible for membership of a Chapter.

1. It is possible for a former student to be a member of more than one Chapter at a time. However s/he can be an office-bearer in only one Chapter at any given time.

2. The period for which an office-bearer may remain in office is three years after assumption of office. 

3. After the initial set of office-bearers (seven in all) complete their term of three years the next set of office-bearers will be identified and installed through an election process.

4. Members are welcome to stand for re-election for one more term,  (therefore a total of two consecutive terms at a stretch), if they so desire.

5. Chapters may levy a Chapter-subscription if they deem it necessary. It is recommended that the membership fee in the Chapters be kept at a minimum amount. Chapters are encouraged to have a separate bank account to ensure that personal finances are kept apart from the financial activities of the Chapter. 

D. Once registered there will be no restriction on the number of members in a Chapter.

E. Once registered as a Chapter, the recommended structure for the Chapter (when the members decide to do so, either by election or nomination) is as follows 

1. A Chapter Head/General Secretary

2. A Treasurer and

3. A Council of Members (not more than five, one of whom will be identified as the Liaison Officer for Social Media exchanges with the Alumni Office in College)

4. The position of President is not applicable to Chapters as this position is exclusively for the main Alumni body in College.

F. Chapters will register themselves with the name St Stephen’s College and a suffix that indicates their district/ state/ country, for example St Stephen’s College Alumni Chapter of Calcutta or St Stephen’s College Alumni Chapter of Nainital or St Stephen’s College Alumni Chapter of Washington DC.

G. A one-time Registration Fee of Rs 10,000/- to be paid to the Alumni Association office in College. This registration fee, along with the Letter of Intent to form a Chapter, the receipt of payment and an official letter from the President of the St Stephen’s College Alumni Association will constitute the required documents to initiate and register the Chapter. The President of the Alumni Association will welcome the Chapter, its members and will indicate the date from when the Chapter will come into existence. Payment of the registration fee, for now, will be only from an Indian bank account (including an NRO account) of one of the five initial members of the Chapter.

H. Only one registered Chapter can be formed within a geographical district.

II. Privileges of a Chapter after formal registration

On successful registration and acceptance by the St Stephen’s College Alumni Association the Chapter will be entitled to the following privileges:

A. Permission to use the College crest on all official communication of the Chapter with the name of the Chapter just below the crest. Other signs of the College (façade of the College, St Stephen’s College etc.) are not permitted to be used by the Chapter unless specifically requested for, case by case. Attention is directed to the specific note on the College’s website on USE OF MARKS AND SIGNS OF THE COLLEGE. 

B. A dedicated ststephens.edu email id for use by the Head/General  Secretary of the Chapter for official communication.

C. One day in the calendar year will be dedicated to the Chapter (other than 1st February and 7th December).

D. A dedicated link/page of the Chapter on the College alumni website to be operated by an authorised member of the Chapter with due diligence.

E. For memorabilia, merchandise and souvenirs, if the Chapter wishes to make use of the other signs of the College they may do so, provided a request is made by the Head/General Secretary of the Chapter to the Principal of the College listing the items on which the sign is intended to be embossed/imprinted and the number of such items to be produced. 

F. Use of the College crest is permissible ONLY  on merchandise, souvenirs and memorabilia produced by the Central Alumni Association in College. 

III. Specific obligations of a Chapter of the St Stephen’s Alumni Association

A. The members of the Chapter should at all times make every effort to fulfil the stated purposes of the Chapter, paying special attention to support College in the three distinct ways identified in section I A 2.

B. The General Secretary of the Chapter must ensure that all communication sent out from the Chapter’s official email is done in a manner so as not to jeopardise the College or bring harm or disrepute to any of its Chapters or alumni.   

C. The Head/General Secretary of the Chapter must send to the Faculty Coordinator of the Alumni office in College the list of all members of the Chapter along with their  contact details within three months of registration as a Chapter. S/He must send an updated of list of members, and their contact details before the end of every subsequent year. 

Care should be taken to ensure that the personal and contact details of the members are shared with the central database only after making the members aware of the Privacy Policy of the College and seeking their consent.

D. An Annual Report of activities of the Chapter to be sent to the Faculty Coordinator of the Alumni office in College in the month of November, every year.

E. To identify an liaison member to coordinate the activities of the Chapter with the Alumni office in College.

Fine Points to Note

St Stephen’s College is unique and the alumni of our college are special. St Stephen’s College and its official Alumni Association encourage all former students of the College to join an alumni Chapter that is active in their city/district. 

Chapters have the wonderful opportunity to encourage, support alumni and provide encouragement and strength to the College. This is also a responsibility. It is with this sense of opportunity and obligation that great pains and effort have gone into the creation of these guidelines that govern the creation and conduct of alumni Chapters. These guidelines are not final and the members of the Core Committee whose names are noted at the end of this document reserve the right to amend, modify and change these guidelines with the approval of the Principal. 

Caution is drawn to the fact that no activity of the Chapter should bring blemish or tarnish the image of the College, its Chapters or the alumni at any time through its activities or communication. Neither the College nor the central Alumni Association will be responsible for any irresponsible act by the individual member/s of a Chapter. 

Misuse of the College crest and/or the official email by a Chapter/member of the Chapter could lead to a withdrawal of the privilege of the College mail id and a public notice to that effect and if required, legal recourse if warranted, as well.  

Disagreements and problems within the Chapter should, as far as possible, be resolved amicably within the Chapter with the Head/General Secretary of the Chapter initiating the solution. If, however, a situation arises which calls for the intervention of the Alumni Association in College, then  College will reserve the right to adjudicate and resolve the matter or to even cancel the registration and disband the Chapter if there are sufficient reasons to justify such a move. Such a situation should, hopefully, never arise.

The good we do will outlast all of us. College and its alumni have proved this not only in India but across the world and in every sphere of human activity. By creating Chapters of the St Stephen’s College Alumni Association we give ourselves a chance to share with the rest of the world the excellence and service-mindedness that College instilled in each one and the many good things we have received. 

                                                                                    Ad Dei Gloriam

John Varghese, Philip Mathew, Bishwajit Bhattacharyya, Sanjiv Meston, Akash Mohapatra, Raman Sidhu, Shachi Gurumayum, Sudipto Mundle, Priyaranjan Jha, Mukesh Williams, Rajesh Kumar, Naveed Ahmed, Shweta Verma and Ann Susan Aleyas.

The above-mentioned members of the Core Committee of the St Stephen’s College Alumni Association record their consent on 7th October 2023 to the above-mentioned guidelines for the establishment of Chapters of the St Stephen’s College Alumni Association. They also reserve the right to amend, modify and change these guidelines with the approval of the Principal of the College.

   

Delhi

7 October, 2023.