Union Christian College was the product of a purely indigenous initiative.
It adopted on its inception, a residential system which has much in common with
the Gurukula tradition. Rabindranath Tagore, while blessing the first
residential building on the Campus, in 1922, observed that the College had
features reminiscent of his own Viswabharati.
The visit of the Guruji was not an accident. It is the index of the admiration commanded by the Institution from among men of eminence. Mahatma Gandhi, himself, found it fit and worthwhile to visit the College in response to the invitation of the College community. During a white hot phase of the freedom struggle, in 1925, the Mahatma addressed the teachers and students of the College and initiated them in the national movement. At a time when most Christian institutions would be reluctant to invite a leader of the freedom movement, the College had the courage of conviction and deep commitment to display an open posture. That is why the Mahatma wrote in the visitor’s diary of the College that he was “delight with the ideal situation”. The mango sapling planted by Gandhiji still graces the Campus and remains a hallowed spot.
While taking a definite position vis-à-vis the national movement, Union Christian College remained secular and cosmopolitan enough to nature an east-west dialogue. A procession of teachers from Oxford and Cambridge lived and taught here, and interacted with the cream of Indian intelligentsia. The presence and participation of the finest teachers from India and abroad laid down the composite ethos of the Institution. Acdemic stalwarts like Prof.T.S.Venkataraman, Prof.A.Aruvamuda Ayyangar, Prof.D.P.Unni, Prof.Kuttippuzha Krishnapillai and the founders of the College, freely interacted with intellectuals like Bishop Stephen Neil, W.E.S. Holland and Malcolm Muggeridge. Muggeridge speaks at great length of his experiences here, in his celebrated autobiography.More