In a detailed post on the “LUMS Discussion Forum” Facebook group, a student describes her harrowing experience as she and the rest of her course mates attempted to navigate multiple incidences of sexual harassment from their professor, who mysteriously disappeared once a sexual harassment case was officially filed.
What happened? A student of the ANTH 2112: Anthropology of Body class posted a thread on “LUMS Discussion Forum” Facebook group detailing multiple instances of sexual harassment from the professor of that class, Dr Hayder Al-Mohammad. In the post, the student details how the professor deviated from the syllabus within a few classes and instead, would talk for hours on topics not relevant to the coursework. She continues to describe how he would frequently make sexual remarks either aimed at specific students or towards the entire class.
These instances include him saying that he intentionally keeps his zipper open on campus in an effort to “get air down there”. Another such instance describes him making remarks about engaging in intercourse in the SDSB discussion room.
She further details that he also made remarks targeted at specific female students outside the classroom by telling one that she looked like his ex-wife and saying to another “I can’t imagine what parts of your body you’ll be rubbing tonight”.
Moreover, the student explains that his inappropriate behaviour wasn’t limited to sexual remarks, but he also regularly made racist and xenophobic comments.
In addition to having curse words be a regular part of his jargon, he also engaged in aggressive and erratic behaviour outside of the classroom frequently getting into fights with other faculty members.
#LUMS hires a sexual predator and does nothing to take corrective action! #ShameONLUMS #DrHAYDER #Sexualharassement pic.twitter.com/unRANqbiWY
— Sana Tauseef (@SanaTauseef15) December 5, 2019
Filing a sexual harassment complaint – to no avail She explains that many uncomfortable students took to the department to complain about the professor. They were told they had the option to miss class but mostly they were asked to give him a ‘second chance’. Eventually, a group of girls from the class teamed together to file a sexual harassment case against him. However, this proved to be unsuccessful because following the complaint, Dr Hayder left LUMS mid-semester without informing any faculty members. Due to this, the case could not be taken any further. Despite the professor’s inappropriate behaviour and subsequent absence, the students reported that they still finished their required coursework. However, after the professor’s disappearance, there was no record of their grades left with any other faculty member. While speaking to ProperGaanda, a former student of Dr Hayder Al-Mohammad who wishes to remain anonymous, reported the university dealt with the professors’ absence in an incredibly inept manner. She explained that initially, no classes were held for a week after which the university hired 5 professors to teach the one subject. The students have to face the added burden to redo all the work which was done by them since the start of the September semester and submitted to Dr. Hayder Al-Mohammad. What the students want to know is why they are being made to pay the price for the university’s lack of judgement in hiring Dr. Hayder Al-Mohammad in the first place. ProperGaanda reached out to the LUMS administration for comment but has not heard back. This is a developing story.