The Institute of Business Management (IoBM) reversed on Monday its decision to expell a student, who has accused the university’s transport deparment of harassment and voiced complaints against two senior faculty members, after the student body rallied in support of said student.
The incident
Around a month ago the female student in question, enrolled in the varsity’s BBA program, entered the Transport Office at IOBM to collect her ID card. Ten minutes later, she exited the room in panic, trembling and crying. She scrammed towards the HR department, where she recounted that misters S* and B* of the Transport Office had attempted to lock the door with her in it.
“[When I went to collect my card] They started staring weirdly at me, and kept looking me up and down. Then one of the men started to record me. The other man moved towards the door trying to lock it.”
The student only managed to escape because her peers outside the office responded to her screams, allowing her to escape the room.
The HR deparrment heard the panic stricken female student. Then simply told her this was not their domain as it wasn’t their department. The female student was accused of “overreacting” and called a “liar”.
Stumped, the female student informed her family, and made her way to two senior faculty members and told them what had happened.
“Agressive behaviour”
At first, the two female faculty members comforted her. When her enraged brother arrived, however, the reassurances morphed into anger at the student.
A heated argument broke out between the student’s family and the university staff, with the HR department denying being informed of the matter altogether.
According to the student, the varsity’s administration, blamed her, accused her and her family of ““engaging in aggressive behavior towards administrative staff”. They used this as grounds for expulsion, when actually, the student insists, it was the staff who had misbehaved with her family.
In the days that followed, the student was called in before a disciplinary committee, where she was faulted of misbehaviour and harassment of senior faculty members.
She was then “Permanently Expelled”.
“After careful deliberation, the Committee has determined that you are guilty of misbehaving with the staff members of three offices of the Institute that are Transport, HR and Academics. Your behavior has created a chaotic situation in the above respective offices,” read the expulsion email.
Students respond
On October 22, the female student took to social media. Detailing the events at the Transport Office and her subsequent expulsion, she posted on an informal campus group.
The post quickly gained traction and was shared widely among the student body. Her peers voiced support and galvanised against the admin, gathering outside the main administration’s block the next day.
Hundereds of students protested against the admin, holding placards and shouting slogans in support of the female student outraged at the alleged harassment and subsequent mistreatment of the student.
A univeristy spokesperson told The Express Tribune that classes had to be shifted online due to growing anti-managment sentitment amongst the student body.
As news of the student protests spread, IoBM was forced to reconsider its decision and propelled into action.
“Universities in Pakistan for most part believe that students can be isolated, picked out and bullied and as there are no student unions who would care. However, the IOBM student body proved the administration wrong which as per reports has now led to firing of the transport staff member against whom the student had originally complained,” wrote lawyer Jibran Nasir on X, formerly Twitter.
IOBM student body unites to demand justice for a fellow female student who was reportedly expelled for complaining about alleged harassment she faced as the University responded by accusing her of being disrespectful to the staff.
Universities in Pakistan for most part believe… pic.twitter.com/JcQ7ObXQ2q
— M. Jibran Nasir 🇵🇸 (@MJibranNasir) October 24, 2025
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Nasir underscored the absence of proper channels through which students can report such incidents at universities.
He recalled a harassment incident at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), wherein a student had posted online detailing harassment faced by a female staffer at the hands of male staffers. IBA had initially expelled the student, dismissing the harrasment allegations, and then reinstated his admission after facing criticism on social media and an outraged student body.
However, Nasir added, IBA did have a formal channel through which the harassment was later taken up and action against the guilty staffers was recommended. Yet, the insitute has failed to hold them accountable till date, said Nasir.
Here at IoBM, there was no anti-harrasment policy to be found. Nor was the student body aware of any possible course of action available to them in such an instance, found Nasir, when he approached the varsity after hearing about the aggreived student’s case. “Despite being a premier institute, which provides graduates to multinationals and corporations all over Pakistan, they had no proper anti-harassment policy to present when asked.”
In such a scenario, it is understandable that the female student resorted to going to one office after another, said Nasir, adding that the staff was evidently untrained and ill-equipped to handle the complaint. Instead of responding to the allegations, they resorted to victim-blaming and disparaging the student’s character, according to Nasir.
“It was the students who led this protest, I only advised them. There is no justification for the absence of a proper anti-harassment mechanism at the university.”
