CHENNAI: It's not every day that a college turns 175. Undeniably, the Madras Christian College knows how to throw a celebration. How else can one describe the year-long activity that the administration and students have lined up for 2012. "This is a celebration of what MCC has given to the world, while looking forward to everything else that we have to offer," says Principal Dr Alexander Jesudasan. He also adds that the students and administration have begun preparation almost half-a-year in advance to ensure that everything goes off seamlessly. "There are several committees that have been formed to work on this year long programme," he says.The most perceptible changes that are going to happen at MCC are a slew of new building projects that will be initiated this year. "After a long wait, the Air Force has reduced their restriction on building multi-storey buildings in the vicinity of their station. So, we are finally going ahead with several building projects that we have wanted to construct," said Professor Sridhar, a member of the core organising committee. First on the cards is something that even students have wished for — A state-of-the-art air conditioned auditorium seating 2,000. "We are looking at the area between the Main gate and the Selaiyur gate so that it can be used for external purposes also," he adds. So, will this take away the grand old Anderson Hall, that has served the college as an 'audi' all these years? "Not at all, he assures and adds, no other place can host the campus' daily prayers." All the other classic classrooms on campus and the four Halls — Bishop Heber, Selaiyur, St Thomas and Martin will be seeing some much needed renovation. "No amount of modernisation will ever take the charm of these old buildings away," assures the Political Science professor. Other projects include a new Commerce block (so that more new courses can be introduced within the stream) and a fully re-done Miller Memorial Library. "A fully digitised library, with better facilities will be coming up next year," he adds.MCC will also finally get an International MBA program, for which talks are on with "two foreign universities".Worshipful Beginning:To begin the 175th year, a special prayer service will be held at MCC, and will be presided over by the Dean of Canterbury, and the Queen's former Chaplain Ivor Smith-Cameron Students to get wired:The college has decided to set up a powerful wi-fi network so that students anywhere on campus will be able to access Internet at any time. The best part is that it is free, at least for staff and students. The old canteen is going down. Instead, a brand new Student Activities Centre is set to come up, with an office for the various clubs and the College Union Society inside.All 32 departments will get a Smart Classroom, all hi-fi and technology-prone that worked well in the School in Chetpet and so the college has decided to take a leaf from their books.
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