Lums hopes for 'culture of respect' on campus as sexist Facebook group by students is exposed
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The Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums) on Tuesday said it hopes to further promote a "culture of respect" on its campus, days after a closed Facebook group having the varsity's current and former students as members was exposed for posting sexist content.
The closed group, titled “Dankpuna at LUMS”, reportedly had more than 600 members, most of them male students and alumni.
The group was taken down after some female students who gained access to its posts shared screenshots on social media, calling out their fellow male students for being sexist and normalising sexual abuse.
Lums, considered one of the top Pakistani varsities, issued an official statement a day after a group of students along with members of on-campus FemSoc (Feminist Society at Lums) approached the dean of the Office of Student Affairs to voice their concerns "regarding a social media page where some students belonging to Lums were sharing offensive, sexist memes".
"The students and the Dean had a detailed conversation and agreed that this is an unfortunate episode," the statement said, stressing that the university encourages an environment where students can freely exchange ideas and debate important issues.
"However, it [the exposé] can actually help open doors to further the conversation on mutual respect and sensitise the community at large on gender issues," it added.
The statement emphasised that Lums encourages collective action by its students to address such matters.
"We hope that this event will help further the culture of respect on our campus."
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Comments (44) Closed
Apr 09, 2019 05:08pm
1st world problems in a 3rd world country.
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Apr 09, 2019 05:13pm
Typical Pakistani varsity. No wonder there's no respect for a Pakistani degree internationally.
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Apr 09, 2019 05:32pm
Revealed now but not new. Both, girls and boys, were involved. Girls throwing bait and boys making the most of the opportunity.
I knew it as far back as 2006. Some of my friends shared girls and boys mixed stuff, real not photoshopped, and the first thought was how could one be this shameless.
A lot more is happening in 2019. What's revealed could just be the tip of the iceberg.
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Apr 09, 2019 05:33pm
One of my children recently graduated from LUMS while the other is still studying there. There appears a dire need to bring this university in line with the Pakistani culture!
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Apr 09, 2019 05:35pm
@Ali, Lums is very well respected in the western world. Don’t know where you got that information from?
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Apr 09, 2019 05:45pm
@Nadeem, good luck imposing curbs on freedom of speech and thought.
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Apr 09, 2019 06:19pm
@Shahid Hassan , is this anything to do with Freedom of Speech?
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Apr 09, 2019 06:44pm
Clean up your act...
Gordon D. Walker
Canada
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Apr 09, 2019 07:21pm
We have far larger issues than this of elite group
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Apr 09, 2019 07:26pm
@Ali,
Eh? This kind of problem has also been unearthed repeatedly on campuses across the US. It bears no relation to the quality of LUMS as an academic institution.
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Apr 09, 2019 07:31pm
@Nadeem,
"There appears a dire need to bring this university in line with the Pakistani culture!"
It depends on what you consider to be Pakistani culture. There should be no space for any objectification of girls. That's the kind of culture that exists across the fraternities in American universities, and it seems a lot of our students are now trying to mimic it.
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Apr 09, 2019 07:37pm
What about *** videos of Pakistani Universities including LUMS circulating over internet?
Thanks for providing ***great*** environment ;)
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Apr 09, 2019 08:14pm
@Shahid Hassan , where's freedom of speech in this.
We have our culture, and that's a Strong one. I would not leave it to adopt someone else's culture. I respect my own values that I consider much better than what's going on at LUMS. Want to live with my own values. Won't accept a forced culture.
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Apr 09, 2019 08:17pm
@HashBrown®, shouldn't we guide our children not to mimic others and rather feel proud of what's their own!
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Apr 09, 2019 08:22pm
Lums is a feudal university where no respect for students or faculty exists and a system patrimonialism is in vogue. As a result of is producing third rate students. I speak from personal experience as faculty member at mghss at lums.
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Apr 09, 2019 08:39pm
@Ali, such things happen in US universities as well. Just google it
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Apr 09, 2019 09:19pm
This University culture is already exposed . Western culture prevail over quality education
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Apr 09, 2019 09:48pm
Every body new but now exposed
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Apr 09, 2019 09:58pm
@The Irony, No, this is not first world's problem only.
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Apr 09, 2019 10:49pm
@ Nadeem. No one is 'forcing' a culture on you. However, your tone suggests you would certainly like to 'force' your own culture on others. Also, when you claim we should take pride in 'our values', you latently assume that our set of values are 'complete'. No one may take indefinite pride in any set of 'inherited values', because no set of 'inherited values' could ever be complete. If that was the case we would still be cavemen.
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Apr 09, 2019 11:22pm
An unfortunate incident. The management needs to take further steps for uplifting prestige and position of this internationally recognised university disseminating the beacon of knowledge across the country and the world at large. .
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Apr 09, 2019 11:23pm
@Chingez Khan, and you watch that 'entertainment'?
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Apr 09, 2019 11:26pm
If you think this is a western problem, you are wrong. If you think Pakistani men do not speak like this, again wrong. All the men I know speak like this in other men-only groups and spaces. There is a culture of entitlement among men - and patriarchal society at large - over women's bodies - staring at them, touching them, passing comments and remarks about them, exercising ownership over them, thinking you know better what that person needs than they themselves do.
It is time to dismantle these damaging ways of thinking. They only cause divides in our society. Men have traditionally been socialised to be aggressive and exhibit toxic masculinity, while women have been socialised to grin and bear all sorts of abuse - mental, emotional, physical etc.
There needs to be mainstream dialogue about how we can perform our respective gender roles, if we subscribe to a gender at all, without impinging on the basic rights of others and how to be more compassionate towards each other.
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Apr 09, 2019 11:34pm
@Nadeem, I am a student and i think that we need to allow our youth to live in the 21st century. imposing those 'values' is making them dogmatic
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Apr 10, 2019 12:06am
It is basically failure of parents who did not train their children well. Education and training are two different things. Schools educate and parents train. The basic value set comes from the parents and family. Law can deter criminals but can not stop them it is the basic training and value set installed by parents that creates self respect and restrain in their kids for not doing wrong even when nobody is watching them.
It is not about one instituation it is about a complete degeneration of our social fabric and moral values in the name of libralisum and moderenity.
We cant not blame the new generations it is our failure we failed as a society in most of the things.
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Apr 10, 2019 12:58am
Clearly they have too much free time on their hands to indulge in nonsense. Get them busy.
Though I must say LUMS is not unique in this regard, in fact it is among the better ones. There might be some where they are more focused on their career rather than nonsense, but none that I have been to as of yet.
I must point out that these are mostly academically lower tier students we are talking about. The higher tier in most institutions has generally been serious.
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Apr 10, 2019 01:34am
@Baemisal, agree!!
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Apr 10, 2019 02:42am
@M.Mudassir Siddiqui, everything if a culture is under constant threat then the question becomes Do we have a culture at all in Pakistan? ?????????
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Apr 10, 2019 03:20am
If you attempt to juxtaposition this with what happens in groups like 'soul-sisters', you will find that much of this so called hysteria is merely virtue-signaling in disguise.
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Apr 10, 2019 05:36am
@Jokes Aside, rather the cavemen were close to the culture you are propagating!
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Apr 10, 2019 05:40am
@citizen , think carefully...what you are calling 'living the 21st century' is actually pre-historic my dear! Better take pride in your own modern values. Do not get carried away with others keep feeding your brain non stop.
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Apr 10, 2019 06:11am
@Baemisal, How nicely put
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Apr 10, 2019 06:40am
what about criminal charges.....
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Apr 10, 2019 06:42am
I visited LUMS 20 years ago and was shocked by the over westernization of the students and environment....
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Apr 10, 2019 06:54am
That is elitist society. Future rulers of this country.
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Apr 10, 2019 06:56am
@Nadeem,
*There appears a dire need to bring this university in line with the Pakistani culture!*
On the contrary, LUMS is very much in line with Pakistani culture already!
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Apr 10, 2019 07:13am
What else could be expected from the elite kids at for the elite school!
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Apr 10, 2019 07:37am
@Nadeem, So -- sir, WHY are your children there. The university is NOT responsible for what the students do off campus, that is their parents' job.
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Apr 10, 2019 08:38am
@Nadeem, Yes the only thing Pakistan needs is more cultural and social policing!!!! All other issue do not matter!!! Please do tell the readers how this non-Pakistani culture affected your children?
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Apr 10, 2019 10:51am
LUMS has been awesome in many ways but its underbelly is always hurtful. Flip over such moral grievings and enters a posse of corrupt moulvis who actually wanted to correct some misgivings of the society but of course, they twisted things even more. If LUMS wants to get a lead on this, please investigate further to be surprised further.
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Apr 10, 2019 12:46pm
@Ali, in America and Canada, people with Pakistani education are doing as well or better then who studied elsewhere.
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Apr 10, 2019 01:39pm
@Nadeem, I am not 'propagating' anything. Simply, identifying a critical flaw in your reason. Instead of responding to criticism, you are simply making baseless claims, about my beliefs, which I have neither declared nor propagated.
Jokes aside, get over yourself Nadeem.
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Apr 10, 2019 03:56pm
It is a progress through the prestigious lens
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Apr 12, 2019 02:02pm
If we are talking about restricting free speech in a closed social media group, then we must also restrict male-bashing platforms (e.g. Aurat March)?
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