- Dr Atif Alvi says he resigned over ‘personal reasons’, administration silent on issue
- Former head of CS Dept says sexual harassment rumours being spread because ‘I am a good looking guy and people can get jealous’
LAHORE: A Forman Christian College University (FCCU) senior faculty member has reportedly resigned over sexual harassment allegations, however, the administration is tightlipped about the mysterious circumstances under which the professor concerned has left his office in the middle of the semester, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Rumours started making rounds on the social media on Friday that FCCU Computer Science Department’s head, Dr Atif Alvi had been forced to resign after several students accused him of soliciting undue favours in return for better grades.
One Facebook user shared that “there are more versions of Atif Alvi lurking around FC. There’s a version who owns a dozen cats and has a foreign degree. There’s another guy who is too old to be thought of as a predator because we’ve all assumed his d*** doesn’t work properly given his age. There’s also a version who is quite literally sexual predation personified but we don’t talk about him anymore, and another version who, in lieu of counselling students, makes their skin crawl with her creepy questions. These are the ones my xanaxed brain can think of right now.
“Ladies, non-binary folks, gender non-conformative folks, gentlemen, everyone, please, I beg of you, it is time we do something about the filth that constantly surrounds us, harasses us, makes us uncomfortable in our own skin, and makes us feel unwelcome in our own home (FCC).
“Hopefully Atif Alvi’s ‘resignation’ is just the beginning of this purge.”
Another user, while sharing the same status, claimed that “he [Dr Atif Alvi] was from the cs [CS] department and he was found guilty of sexual harassment with proof”.
One of the users expressed shock, saying that she has worked under him in CS department as a work-study student for 2 years and never really got any negative vibes.
A page, Pakistan Feminist Network, posted a status condemning the students who were supporting the professor and his behaviour.
The post read: “A member of faculty at FC College was fired recently (officially, he resigned) on the grounds of harassment. Although this was never confirmed officially, students have known of him and his predatory, creepy, and downright uncomfortable comments. Many women I know have been made uncomfortable by his comments, and I myself have been warned not to go see him alone because of his predatory nature…”
‘I AM A GOOD LOOKING GUY, PEOPLE CAN GET JEALOUS’:
Dr Atif Alvi rejected the controversy surrounding his sudden departure from the university, claiming that he had resigned due to “personal reasons”.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Dr Alvi said that choosing to resign [in the middle of the semester] was not an easy decision for him but he had some issues with the administration which he can’t discuss as “the administration has been very good to him overall”.
“I’m well off financially, so resigning isn’t a big deal that way. I will also get my provident fund.”
Interestingly, the professor deactivated his Facebook account soon after leaving the university, while the administration was also quick to remove his profile from its official website.
“I deactivated my account as it was flooding with accolades from students and I was also receiving calls from friends,” Dr Alvi said.
Regarding allegations of sexual harassment against him, Dr Alvi said that he can’t fight rumours.
“I am a good looking guy. People can get jealous,” he said.
When contacted, Chief Student Affairs Officer Cheryl Burke refused to comment on the matter, saying she doesn’t deal with such issues so won’t comment on it.
Pakistan Today made repeated attempts to contact the Rector’s Office to verify the allegations but there was no response from them till the writing of this report.
The university’s version will be added as soon as we receive it.
