BAC vows to increase efforts in bringing awareness to women's rights issues

[Kstarnet]

 

BAC vows to increase efforts in bringing awareness to women's rights issues

 

In an official statement released today, 28 April, Brickfields Asia College (BAC) clarified that they'd advised the female student to remove her tweets about the rape joke as they were concerned about her safety online after her phone number was revealed in one of the tweets.

"As educators entrusted with the safety and wellbeing of our students, our first response in the recent unfortunate rape comment tweet incident was to advise the student to bring down her tweets containing her mobile number because in our view this is an internet safety procedure to ensure identity and location security. It is unfortunate that this advice has been perceived as an infringement of her right to free speech or our attempts to silence her on the event which was never our intention.

In fact, we acknowledge it takes courage to speak up and that this young woman has been through a distressing event and our hearts go out to her. She will continue to have both establishments’ support," said BAC founder and Managing Director Raja Singham in the statement.

"There is still a lot for everyone to learn about promoting the rights, respect, and protection of women."

In an interview with SAYS, BAC's Head of Legal and Compliance Mr. Andrew Kalish explained that the college has worked with over 80 NGOs via the college's CSR initiative - the Make It Right Movement (MIRM). In line with the initiative's goal to keep the students as well as the faculty aware and up to date with societal issues, the movement covers 12 cause pillars, including women's rights.

"We at BAC and IACT as educators with over 20,000 graduates have always emphasised and inspired our students to fight for the voiceless, the marginalised, and powerless. We believe that in light of this event, we can and we will make it our priority to uphold transparency, integrity, and ethical behaviour among our students, staff, and every department of both establishments," said the statement.

Moving forward, BAC vows to "continue to conduct awareness campaigns" that include workshops, dialogues, and talks in championing women's rights. The college has also engaged a women's rights activist to assist them in furthering their support of the cause.

 

It is explained in the statement that "both institutions have always conducted and supported programmes to highlight gender sensitivity, equality, and sexual harassment on campus and we will now further increase our efforts."

"BAC and IACT will continue to conduct awareness campaign comprising workshops, dialogues and talks emphasising on the following areas which will be extended to the public as well. These areas include:
- Gender sensitivity and equality
- Zero tolerance to sexual harassment
- Cyber bullying
- Social media sensitivity
- Cyber security, ethics and procedure
- Atress, anxiety and depression

In this regard, we are fortunate to have the services of Ivy-Josiah, a women’s rights activist and Gender Consultant who has voluntarily agreed to assist us as part of our advisory board to monitor and promote a safe, hospitable, and inclusive campus environment."

 

When asked if the college has outlined the terms of the male student's 100 hours of community service, BAC's Mr. Andrew Kalish said that the college has yet to determine the causes he will be involved in for the duration

He further assured us that the college is currently talking to their NGO partners and beneficiaries to that account. The student, whom he clarified is a freshman, is currently suspended.

On a related note, BAC founder and Managing Director Raja Singham related their side of the events in an exclusive interview with Malay Mail Online. In the interview, he explained what happened during the meeting between the female student and the college staff as well as how her parents' concerns for her safety eventually led to her quitting her studies at IACT

 

Source: http://says.com/my/news/girl-who-tweeted-about-rape-joke-had-to-give-up-scholarship-for-her-own-safety#segment-204525

 

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