Whistleblower’s expulsion
One of Pakistan’s most prestigious universities is making headlines for all the wrong reasons after expelling a student whistleblower who had been leading protests against the varsity’s failure to take action against a staff member accused of harassment. The Institute of Business Administration (IBA) admitted that Mohammad Gibrail was expelled for highlighting the issue on social media and “endangering” the alleged harasser and other staff by organising protests instead of reporting it to the administration through the “right channels”.
Gibrail, a final-year undergraduate student on a scholarship, said he witnessed an accounts staffer verbally abusing a female subordinate. He said he had also reported the incident to the varsity, but no action was taken against the alleged harasser. Since then, he has been organising protests demanding action against the man he claims was at fault. The varsity, however, says Gibrail “was given multiple occasions to reconsider his actions and was counselled numerous times to reassess his actions”, referring to a demand to take down social media posts.
IBA says the varsity has a “zero-tolerance policy towards the violation of its rules and regulations”. As for harassment allegations, IBA has shown an astounding degree of tolerance because, by punishing a whistleblower — whether or not he broke any rules — the university is actively discouraging other students from going public with details of unethical or illegal behaviour at the varsity.
IBA’s reasoning is suspect at best. Among the varsity’s complaints is that the student posted about the incident and publicly identified the alleged harasser before the victim had filed her complaint. By this logic, someone who witnesses a murder should face jail time if they speak to the media about it before an FIR has been registered. At the bare minimum, the varsity should have held back until the probe into the actual incident was completed. If the accused staffer was found innocent, only then should action have been taken against Gibrail for levelling a false accusation.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 1st, 2021.
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