Aligharh Muslim university refuses to allow female students to use library

[hinduwoman]

because women in library can lure more (gasp!) male students

"If we allow girls into the library, there will be four times more boys," the Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University has said in a roundly condemned comment rejecting demands to end restrictions on women students using the main library in the campus.

Actually with libraries falling into disuse that should be a good thing.

when the Human Resources Minister demanded a written explanation the VC complained that he was misunderstood and he is not sexist.

Following the uproar over his remarks, Education Minister Smriti Irani has asked for a report. The ministry has written to the vice chancellor saying that keeping out some women from the library is "human rights violation."

The university, which is counted among India's best, allows all graduates to use the Maulana Azad library but some 2,500 under-graduate women are banned from entering it; the vice chancellor says they can go to the Women's College, which has its own library though not as well-stocked.

Today, Lt Gen Shah tried to explain his concerns. "There are 4,000 under-graduate girls. If we allow them, we will not have place. Plain and simple - we can't allow them into the library. We are not against women's empowerment," he said.
...
The Women's College was established in 1906 and the Maulana Azad Library was set up decades later. Students of the Women's College were never given membership of the library, which can seat 1,300 at a time.

Women students are angry and upset.

"Aren't we part of AMU? At least let us borrow books, if we can't sit inside," said one student.

Another complained, "We have not even looked inside the library. Don't we deserve this facility? We only wanted library cards."

He then argued that he was only thinking of the female students' safety since they would have to travel all of two Kilometers from their college to the library. Imagine that --- two whole kilometers ! Then he went to say that all the books will be available online, so the girls would not have to actually come physically to the library where they would actually meet a male student in person.

The VC does not understand what sexism is, or why his comments are insulting.

And of course it is part of a larger trend in the university. It was in trouble recently over insisting on 'decent' dress code for women and for women students not to have more than one mobile.

Not that male students are lagging behind which I guess is another reason the VC does not understand --

There is a storm of protest brewing in Aligarh Muslim University after some male students said women waving flags during campaigning for the students union poll set for Wednesday is "against Muslim culture."

The women quickly lashed back, circulating posters on social media and outside that said, 'It is not a sin for a girl to wave a flag'; 'Nobody can question my freedom of expression,'; 'The hypocrites who call me sister and then challenge my freedom need to know I am not a fool'.

Some men on campus had raised their voices against women in burqas holding up placards, claiming it is against Muslim culture. Women better stay off campus politics, some men students said, even as women raised even more placards in protest.

Leyaqat Khan, who is contesting for the post of president of the students' union, told TOI, "On the one hand, candidates stand on the podium and speak of the protection of women and their dignity. They get off the podium and then hand the women flags. This is just against the ethos of this campus, and against Muslim culture."
...

Shadab Bano of the history department of AMU Women's College said, "It is commendable, how women have come out with these posters. Some people don't want women in public spaces. Whenever students have taken out marches on serious issues, women too have joined the protests. But each time a memorandum was read, the women were asked to leave. When girls protest that they want to be present while memoranda are read, the response is just ridiculous: 'This is not JNU or DU', they are told."

[JNU --- Jahawarlal Nehru University; DU -- Delhi University]

And this is why govt. should not fund faith based universities.

 

[Metaphor]

because women in library can lure more (gasp!) male students



Actually with libraries falling into disuse that should be a good thing.

when the Human Resources Minister demanded a written explanation the VC complained that he was misunderstood and he is not sexist.

Following the uproar over his remarks, Education Minister Smriti Irani has asked for a report. The ministry has written to the vice chancellor saying that keeping out some women from the library is "human rights violation."

The university, which is counted among India's best, allows all graduates to use the Maulana Azad library but some 2,500 under-graduate women are banned from entering it; the vice chancellor says they can go to the Women's College, which has its own library though not as well-stocked.

Today, Lt Gen Shah tried to explain his concerns. "There are 4,000 under-graduate girls. If we allow them, we will not have place. Plain and simple - we can't allow them into the library. We are not against women's empowerment," he said.
...
The Women's College was established in 1906 and the Maulana Azad Library was set up decades later. Students of the Women's College were never given membership of the library, which can seat 1,300 at a time.

Women students are angry and upset.

"Aren't we part of AMU? At least let us borrow books, if we can't sit inside," said one student.

Another complained, "We have not even looked inside the library. Don't we deserve this facility? We only wanted library cards."

He then argued that he was only thinking of the female students' safety since they would have to travel all of two Kilometers from their college to the library. Imagine that --- two whole kilometers ! Then he went to say that all the books will be available online, so the girls would not have to actually come physically to the library where they would actually meet a male student in person.

The VC does not understand what sexism is, or why his comments are insulting.

And of course it is part of a larger trend in the university. It was in trouble recently over insisting on 'decent' dress code for women and for women students not to have more than one mobile.

Not that male students are lagging behind which I guess is another reason the VC does not understand --

There is a storm of protest brewing in Aligarh Muslim University after some male students said women waving flags during campaigning for the students union poll set for Wednesday is "against Muslim culture."

The women quickly lashed back, circulating posters on social media and outside that said, 'It is not a sin for a girl to wave a flag'; 'Nobody can question my freedom of expression,'; 'The hypocrites who call me sister and then challenge my freedom need to know I am not a fool'.

Some men on campus had raised their voices against women in burqas holding up placards, claiming it is against Muslim culture. Women better stay off campus politics, some men students said, even as women raised even more placards in protest.

Leyaqat Khan, who is contesting for the post of president of the students' union, told TOI, "On the one hand, candidates stand on the podium and speak of the protection of women and their dignity. They get off the podium and then hand the women flags. This is just against the ethos of this campus, and against Muslim culture."
...

Shadab Bano of the history department of AMU Women's College said, "It is commendable, how women have come out with these posters. Some people don't want women in public spaces. Whenever students have taken out marches on serious issues, women too have joined the protests. But each time a memorandum was read, the women were asked to leave. When girls protest that they want to be present while memoranda are read, the response is just ridiculous: 'This is not JNU or DU', they are told."

[JNU --- Jahawarlal Nehru University; DU -- Delhi University]

And this is why govt. should not fund faith based universities.

In my University days, I once saw a woman in the library, and I was driven into such a lustful frenzy, I texted all my friends so that we could gaze at her with envious eyes as a group.

She probably wasn't meant to be there. I'm sure she was on her way to the beauty parlour and lost all her tampons and then get all turned around.

 

[hinduwoman]

an even more fascinating example of power of patriarchy

A day after a controversy broke out at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) over undergraduate women students being denied access to its main library, the AMU Women’s College Students’ Union (WCSU) and AMU Students’ Union (AMUSU) took out a protest on Wednesday against “biased media reports”.
While some protesters came out in support of Vice-Chancellor Zameer Uddin Shah, saying “daughters can’t be against their father”, a section of girl students alleged that the portrayal of AMU as “dictatorial university shrouded under Islamic rules” had overshadowed the legitimate demand of access to Maulana Azad Library (MAL).
Shah, meanwhile, stood by his comment even as the HRD Ministry sought more details from him about rules which bar girls from accessing the main library.

The placard 'daughters cannot be against their father' is just delicious. Just the right blending of patriarchal ideology and woman's internalization of it.

 

[Sarpedon]

who puts the library 2 km from the rest of the university? Someone needs a class in campus planning.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

who puts the library 2 km from the rest of the university? Someone needs a class in campus planning.

It's planned very well. It's right where the male students are located, so they can get into it easily, and far away from where the female students are located, so they have to go through a lot of effort to just be told that they can't use it.

 

[credoconsolans]

"If we allow girls into the library, there will be four times more boys," the Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University has said

Apparently limiting men's movements - by restricting how many men can be in the library - was not an option.

 

[hinduwoman]

The High Court had ordered the University to answer to a Public Interest Litigation filed on behalf of girl students but the VC soldiers on bravely

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...I-over-library-issue/articleshow/45151811.cms

Vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University Zameeruddin Shah has banned The Times of India in the campus. At the oath-taking ceremony of the varsity's students union (AMUSU) on Thursday, Shah, who was at the centre of a huge storm triggered by his remark that the Maulana Azad Library would remain out of bounds for undergraduate girl students as it was already cramped for space, made the announcement and spoke of its implementation.

Asked about it, AMU's public relations officer Rahat Abrar said on Friday that the "ban" comes in the wake of demands from some students upset with the report. "There will be no copies of The Times of India in any of our offices or departments," he said.
...

Back in the campus, girl students of the Women's College were "happy" at the HC order but were cautious in their interactions with TOI. Student after student asked not to be named while being quoted. One of them said, "If we have hope of entering MAL (Maulana Azad Library), this is great news. If not, at least we should have an office of the library within our campus, so we can make demands for books that will be delivered to us in 24 hours."

A faculty member of AMU, also wishing to remain unnamed, said, "This is sad. TOI raised the issue and got it noticed, and now the university is shooting the messenger."
...

A third year BA student of the Women's College couldn't hide her glee. "The news sounds good, but it comes with a lot of disturbance," she said. "The publicity (for the university) was negative, but it got us so much attention that the court acted on a PIL. If there is no space, at least we can just go and issue books."

Maybe the University should just disallow reading altogether?

And now we come to the real reason -- muslim sensitivity would be hurt

"But in the given circumstances, when the library is already overcrowded with over 28,000 members, allowing an additional number of undergraduate girl students won't be feasible. Besides the distance between the Women's College and Azad library is 3km and road full of risk. All sorts of anti-social elements are out to target and tease the girls. Should I put my daughters to risk by allowing them to join the library," asked Shah in an exclusive interview with TOI on Tuesday night. "The UG girls are too young to take decisions and their movement outside the campus is discouraged. That's why coaching classes have been started for them on the campus," he said.

"Above all, I have to follow the code of conduct of the Muslim community, which is traditional and conservative. I am trying to change it slowly by constructing a swimming pool and making the campus wifi-enabled," he said. Shah stressed that he had been in Army for over 40 years and knew what modernity was. "But as the vice chancellor, I cannot take decisions which are against the Muslim sensibilities and society," he said.

"The yardstick of the metropolitan universities of Delhi and Mumbai cannot be applied on the AMU. Can you imagine what will happen if I allow kiss and hug campaigns like JNU? I would be lynched," Shah said, explaining that last year he wrote to parents of over 4,000 undergraduate girls, seeking their permission to allow them the attend the central library in the given circumstances. "Almost cent per cent rejected it and said the safety and the security of the girls was responsibility of the University administration," Shah said, adding that whatever he said at the installation ceremony of the Women's College on Monday was just in a jest and meant to stress that how much overcrowded the library was, but it was given a different spin.

Wrong on so many counts! The Undergraduate girls who are old enough to vote cannot take decisions on whether to use the library! And discouraged from moving outside the campus just in case they might meet the wide world! And since the library and the women's college is within the university campus, obviously the VC has forgotten whatever he had learned about security in the army. And the role of university is to broaden the mind, not coddle any particular superstitions.



The real problem seems to be how to stop girls from learning too much and thinking they are equal to men.