LSE (Lahore School of Economics) students reached out to defend their Dean after a video of him allegedly shaming another student went viral.
Recently, a video was circulating around Facebook and Twitter that caused a major uproar. A professor from LSE was allegedly seen shaming his student after he was told that the student did not have the financial means to purchase a new laptop. The student expressed their concern and said they were unable to take part in their online exams due to a lack of resources. The professor, it seemed, proceeded to shut down the student and dismissed their issue.
This is the dean of lahore school of economics. That's how he has chosen to respond to the problems a student residing is swabi has. Its inhumane and disgusting on another level. And nothing short of mental torture. Please retweet (esp non lse fam)#BoycottLSE pic.twitter.com/KRBqky5cj7
— Wehshi Zinger (@WehshiZinger) May 20, 2020
People became outraged at this behavior, especially since it came from an esteemed faculty member of a prestigious institution. After it was discovered that the professor was in fact the Dean of LSE, Dr. Sohail Zafar, students from all over the country went online to express their distaste.
Following this turn of events, the student who was allegedly shamed by Dr. Sohail came out with his statement.
In light of the video of our esteemed instructor that got viral a few hours ago. Here is the real truth. Please listen to this before making any assumptions and playing the victim.Here is the truth just so you guys can know the real story.#LSEstudentbody #BoycottLse #LseInstructor #RealStory #lseDean #SaveStudent #Savethetruth
Gepostet von Ali Khan Shewa am Mittwoch, 20. Mai 2020
The student, Ali Khan Shewa, wrote his response to provide some clarification on the matter. He also reached out to us through email, where he further said:
“The video has been edited and taken out of context by the person who leaked it due to which people have misinterpreted the entire situation. It was an after class friendly conversation between myself and the aforementioned instructor. The real context of the conversation was that I was expressing a problem about software compatibility with my Macbook because the software only supported the Windows Operating System, to which the instructor replied in a sarcastic manner that was only meant to be taken lightly.”
Ali even went on to elaborate that he was not shamed for a lack of money or resources as:
“I belong to Swabi but I live in Lahore and have a good internet connection and people have changed its entire context through social media by saying ‘I live in Swabi and don’t have a good internet connection’ while others are saying that ‘I am not financially strong and the instructor in pressurizing me to buy a Windows machine’.”
He summarized his stance by saying that people were bound to misinterpret matters immediately without looking at context at all.
Hira Shahid Khan, a representative of the LSE student body, also expressed her concerns about the matter. In her email to MangoBaaz, she said:
“So, we have been hearing a lot about the Lahore School of Economics Dean’s behavior towards an MBA student who apparently mentioned something about his internet connectivity and MacBook Issues.
Everyone has been pointing fingers at the man who is the DEAN of the business school.
Well, now let’s look at it from this perspective.
- Invasion of privacy
- Videotaping an instructor and making that video viral, unethical practice.
- He is the Dean of business school, he has done a lot more than anyone can imagine for the whole lot in LSE. He is always there to resolve personal issues along with issues students face every now and then.
- He is like a father figure to most of the students in LSE and he considers himself as one. The way he talked to his student was his way of owning his student body because he is responsible for them.
He has to make them find solutions on their own not him finding solutions for them because no one is going to do that for you.
- Creating a fuss about something that happened in a private classroom setting; making it viral was defaming him for being someone who is concerned about you and your future.
- LSE students’ concerns may be valid. They are facing challenges but we have witnessed these Deans and instructors working extra hours for their students.
- Change of mediums is not easy and adapting to the change is the most critical. However, these aged instructors managed to do it for who?”
We also pushed to ask Dr. Sohail about his thoughts on the matter but were told that the Dean should not be contacted directly. After being denied repeatedly to get in touch with Dr. Sohail, Hira said, “Also, it would be highly appreciated if we do not bother our Dean with such a baseless issue.”
While we don’t have the Dean’s statement, this is what his students have to say. What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments.
This Professor From Lahore School Of Economics Allegedly Shamed A Student For Not Having Money To Buy A Laptop During The Pandemic