IBA under fire for expelling student who exposed harassment on campus

KARACHI: The Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi has come in for a lot of flak for expelling a student who exposed an alleged harassment incident on the premises of the varsity.

The IBA’s Disciplinary Committee took action against Mohammad Gibrail for posting about the incident on social media instead of using the “right channels” to report it, the institute said in a statement on its Facebook page.

Informed sources told ARY News today that the IBA is facing increasing pressure to restore the student’s admission. The institute’s Board of Governors has expressed concern over the situation emerging in the wake of the expulsion decision.

“The student was given multiple occasions to reconsider his actions and was counselled numerous times to reassess his actions. Having failed to do that, the Disciplinary Committee has decided to expel the student as the IBA has zero tolerance policy towards the violation of its rules and regulations,” the statement read.

“His (Gibrail’s) highlighting the incident of alleged harassment within IBA has been appreciated by the IBA administration. We welcome our students pointing out issues which are of concern to them and our community.”

“However, we need to emphasize, that the act of the student of whistleblowing of alleged harassment has nothing to with the Disciplinary matter which was the basis of the hearing and recommendation. The IBA Anti-Harassment Committee is investigating the case as per IBA and HEC rules, regulations, and procedures. We do not jump to any conclusions on the basis of hearsay and always follow processes before any decision can be taken.”

The decision has provoked a strong reaction on social media with an outpouring of support for Gibrail.