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HomeIndiaGovernance#MeToo storm gets Symbiosis media college to act against 'harassment culture' on...

#MeToo storm gets Symbiosis media college to act against ‘harassment culture’ on campus

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Students and alumni of Pune’s Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication took to social media to accuse professors and peers of harassment.

New Delhi: Joining the #MeToo movement currently taking India by storm, female students from the Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication (SCMC) in Pune have also raised their voices against the alleged harassment culture prevalent on campus.

They have claimed that this culture has been propagated by faculty members as well as fellow students, and the storm seems to have woken the college from its slumber.

SCMC authorities Tuesday issued a statement to students and alumni via email, inviting them for further discussion on sexual harassment in college through a Google form.

It then issued a second statement, informing the students and alumni about an existing Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), as well as announcing the launch of a Committee Against Sexual Harassment (CASH) cell.


Also read: Editors Guild throws its weight behind #MeToo victims, says guilty must be punished


The email reassured the students that their safety was paramount, while also apologising to those who have suffered through the ordeal.

Harrowing accounts

Even as social media raged with accusations of sexual harassment and assault against many prominent actors, journalists, comedians and others, SCMC students and alumni started coming forward with their own testimonies about harassment as well as gaslighting (a form of emotional abuse) at the hands of men on campus.

Some women talked about their ordeal with college boys who breached the boundaries of physical intimacy and violated consent. A former student also wrote an account of the emotional trauma she had to face in college from a peer who allegedly harassed her emotionally throughout the term of her college. She also described an incident where the peer allegedly sexually assaulted her when he was inebriated.

https://twitter.com/prawnchilli/status/1049609528428367873

Many accounts soon flooded Twitter. A former student also called out SCMC professor Vijay Shelar, who allegedly sexually harassed women students during dark-room practical sessions.

According to the student’s tweet, the students’ council took up complaints against Shelar with college director Anupam Siddhartha (referred to as AS in the tweets), but nothing came of it.

Another user made allegations of “serial” sexual harassment against faculty member Suhas Ghatne.

https://twitter.com/InSolidaritySis/status/1048812334356094977

Students’ and alumni’s demands

In the meantime, Vaishnavi Suresh, another SCMC alumna, wrote a letter to the director, signed by 306 students and alumni, with a list of demands for making the campus a safer space.

“In the light of recent events where journalists and media professionals (including some of SCMC’s alumni) have been accused by women on social media of sexual harassment in professional spaces, we feel making college a safer space is the need of the hour,” read the letter.


Also read: Women in Kashmir join #MeToo movement, accuse journalists & politician of abuse


The list of requests included setting up an ICC, conducting gender sensitisation workshops for students and staff, and launching investigations against professors who have been accused of sexual harassment.

Speaking to ThePrint, Suresh said she will be meeting the college director to discuss the requests made in the petition.

“While he did seem defensive and self-preservatory, he also admitted that the college had failed and was more than willing to improve,” she said.

College’s second response

The second statement issued by the college administration apologised to those who had faced these ordeals, and promised that “if you reach out to the ICC, we will take steps and actions if need be”.

“We are here to guide and assist you, regarding the documentation and procedures, if you choose to file a case. And provide support the entire time,” the statement read.

“If you need a platform to make your voice heard, then ICC can be that voice. If you wish to share your story so that others benefit from it, we’d help you do so, without your identity being revealed, if you choose to keep it so.


Also read: Here’s why the Right-wing is so muted about India’s raging #MeToo movement


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1 COMMENT

  1. These are the real “ termites “ who need to be dealt with. A very dark underbelly is emerging; many of us mistakenly believed this sickness was largely confined to the glamour – especially film – industry.

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