IBA anti-harassment committee recommends suspending registrar for expelling student

• IBA AHC recommends suspending registrar Dr Asad for two weeks.
• It says registrar influenced outcome of student Jibrail's case.
• AHC recommends registrar apologise — in person or written — to Jibrail.

KARACHI: The Institute of Business Administration's (IBA) Anti-Harassment Committee (AHC) has recommended suspending the educational institution's registrar for two weeks after he "engineered" the process of expelling a student last year who acted as a whistleblower in a harassment case.

The IBA had last year in October reinstated the student, Muhammad Jibrail, a month after he had been expelled for highlighting a harassment incident at the institute's finance department.

Dr Asad Ilyas, the institute's registrar — according to the report — had insisted that Jibrail had become the judge, jury, and the executioner in the harassment case and he had recommended his expulsion. As a result, Jibrail was ultimately expelled. 

In the latest report, which has been seen by Geo.tv, the AHC has noted that the registrar used his "influence to expel the student and had he not been part of the meetings which were called to decide Jibrail's case, the outcome would have been different." 

"The AHC finds that Dr Asad’s behaviour amounted to harassment, being conduct that was severe, persistent, and pervasive resulting in such behaviour adversely affecting Jibrail’s morale and ability to function, as the policy defines harassment," the report said.

Read more: IBA reinstates student expelled for publicly highlighting harassment on campus

The AHC found that the registrar used his influence on members of the disciplinary committee —who also report to him, putting them in a compromised position — to engineer an outcome of his liking.

The AHC said since Dr Asad used his influence to affect the decision, he should apologise, in writing, to Jibrail or personally apologise to him in the presence of Dr Akbar Zaidi, the institute's executive director, for the harm and mental trauma caused to him.

"His inexperience and flawed decision making were, in the opinion of the AHC, the main cause of why Jibrail was expelled," the committee's report read.

The report read that despite Dr Zaidi repeatedly taking responsibility for the decision to expel Jibrail, it does not take away from the fact that, had it not been for Dr Asad, the DC may not have come to the conclusion of expelling Jibrail.

The AHC said the Dr Zaidi was given "wrong counsel on the matter" and the actions of Dr Asad, in his official capacity as the registrar, not only exceeded his mandate, but there was also misuse of authority and power, and his actions caused irreparable damage to the reputation of IBA.

"For these reasons, in the opinion of the AHC, Dr Asad should be suspended for two weeks," the report said, which worked on the complaint filed by Jibrail against the registrar and members of the disciplinary committee.

"The AHC feels that throughout this episode, there were continued and ongoing systemic failures such as:

• Failure of processes to be followed (SOPs for expulsion, appeal process, content of the letter, communication to the student body);
• Lack of clarity on IBA’s social media policy and how to deal with student protests;
• Failure of division of responsibility;
• Lack of transparency and lack of accountability; and
• Failure to abide by rules and regulations, policies, and due processes consistently or as part of a larger strategy and mitigation considerations."