Pune: IISER students magazine raises gender-discrimination and harassment issue on campus

Pune: KALPA, the students' media house of Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER), has raised issues related gender-discrimination and harassment on campus. IISER has supported the students and faculty who have spoken up with courage against sexism in the society and on campus.

In a thread of four tweets, KALPA from its official handle @KalpaIISERPune has tweeted, "Last year, the inception of 98 acres happened with the philosophy of encouraging high-quality journalism on issues concerning our campus. This time we had a bigger and very dedicated team of journalists investigating some important issues. Releasing https://kalpa-iiserpune.org/misogyny-inc/"

Further KALPA states, "Early last semester, in a bid to assess the prevalence of gender-based discrimination and harassment in our campus at @IISERPune, we had sent out an anonymous survey, asking for your experiences, hoping for a lack of them. Since most of our interviewees were women, the article is heavily filled with their experiences. But we urge readers to keep in mind that these incidents could have happened to anyone, anywhere. Here we try to give as honest a glimpse as we can, not through our own but through the voices of those who saw and lived it. We cannot be more grateful for their courage, which they may lend to those who find their own story in these words."

IISER has supported the students. "We stand in support of students and faculty who have spoken up with courage against sexism in our society and on campus. @IISERPune reaffirms institute's commitment to providing a safe, inclusive workplace. To reach out or learn about our IC, please visit http://www.iiserpune.ac.in/links/internal-committee-posh," IISER has replied on Twitter.

Anant Bhan, a researcher applauded the students as well as the institution. In his quote tweet, He says, "Very rare to have students feel free to critique their institution on certain parameters. And for the institution to accept and progressively respond. Well done @IISERPune."

A recent IISER Pune alumnus, as her Twitter bio describes, Aarcha Thadi said, "Kudos everyone! This is a tremendous amount of work, hope the conversations that it is sparking are going to do justice to the efforts y'all have taken, & the many people who have unfortunately suffered through terrible times & inspired this article in the 1st place. Very proud!"

KALPA has responded saying that "Many have reached us out in last few days, asking how it was possible to take up such an issue publicly. Here is the answer! We are just lucky enough to be at @IISERPune, where an unparalleled caring and supportive admin works hard to make the campus a better place!"