After the involvement of a few students in making memes that were allegedly defaming FAST-NU, actions were taken against them by the University. A notice was issued against the students along with their names and roll numbers, and individual punishments for each students were mentioned. The memes are reported to have been shared in a private university group on Facebook. The news was met with shock from the student body.

A ‘Disciplinary Actions Notice’ was circulated on social media where apparently FAST University had taken notice over some memes and suspended as well as expelled some students

The notice has expelled students – some for a semester and some for a year. Additionally, their grades will be reduced in all of their courses in the Spring 2020 semester. The students are also expected to write an apology to the administration and spend an hour daily for the community services once the campus reopens.

The notice quickly went viral and people began to request FAST University to reconsider their decision over memes and not to reduce the grades of the students

https://www.facebook.com/ali.moeen.nawazish/photos/a.10152091889369862/10157775990889862/?type=3&theater

An account of an original student currently enrolled in FAST was shared on social media which claimed to be explaining what actually went down regarding FAST University taking action over memes

https://www.facebook.com/MAC164/posts/1352371644963716?__xts__[0]=68.ARDCT9uxcDkV8bKw4LvuGwLEJ13XkuJeV3E66ZguZxVRQav6xGlVahhmKi0u6d8BERiaQr41lMkfZ760lvNV8ZpP_MhK7IclHfI9lYQcVMrfq_n858tVFzJ_wNyS94j9RCcXODEroRhQYeHokuFekmopOb_4xP2nZf9mmhtS0cINE_CDhdSryOUsmZiktFlklkCF9hFQx2cAHTtAASfCOJ4b2MbXVo85sN8SkyEwKrwo_YKRv25RiKhDAro7DvHhqpzYD0E_lTVj1Vns5k_sm1p0QSdXJAO5SG_U5VBwE2-yw0UUoLKf4Z58QPnJ5YG25nyKD9yP0LwlQThtKrEBybXKdQ&__tn__=-R

The current student claimed that the memes did not target any teacher or individual, rather, were just random memes about the university

The student further talked about how the university is paying attention to petty matters but has failed to provide adequate facilities for the students. It was also pointed out that at this time when all other universities are trying to cut down tuition fee, the FAST’s administration has increased it. The student also requested anonymity in the fear of being the next one on the list of Disciplinary Action Notice.

Another person to came forward to highlight the incident and labeled it as a “misuse of power”

https://www.facebook.com/1410950787/posts/10223912665630453/

He wrote,

“Hello everyone,

Please allow me to share an example of misuse of power and utter stupidity. Few days back like every other campus on the planet, few students from FAST-NU, Lahore started sharing memes in a local group named FAST Lahore Posting. Teachers, admin staff and alumni were added in the group and everyone was having fun until this happened.

The current administration of FAST-NUCES, Lahore acted against group admins and all those who posted memes in that group. The punishment involves,

1. Expulsion from the current semester that means all their efforts to score good grade will go in vain and they will lose at least PKR.120,000 of their hard-earned money.
2. Expulsion for one whole year meaning a student will lose one complete academic year from his life and will lag from his age mates.
3. One or 2 grade down meaning if you are getting an A, You will get a C most probably.
4. Cancellation of degrees for Alumni students involved.
5. Written apology and community service. (That’s a real nice idea though.)

In these terrible times where parents are struggling hard to manage academic dues of their children, and universities are literally doing no favors to them, simply destroying 2 whole semesters of students who are just trying to have fun is highly unjust.

Students are already under immense pressure to perform; teachers are merely helping, parents are getting traumatized by hefty fees and FEW PEOPLE AT THE TOP ARE PUNISHING STUDENTS, DEMOTING THEM & WIPING THOUSANDS OF RUPEES VIA A FUCKING MS WORD DOCUMENT.

Just imagine, you work for whole 6 months, your parents pay immense amount in hard times somehow just to keep you enrolled in an institute and few days before final exams some beast suspends you from current semester for POSTING A DAMN PHOTOSHOPPED IMAGE.

Rather than fixing their shitty examination system, their rude as fuck administration, their lame on-campus activities and their useless societies they decided to take action on something that’s merely a recreational activity in these dreadful days. For fuck sake have some tolerance. Trust me, FAST-NU Lahore is nothing but a laughing stock. Bunch of egoistic monsters sitting in administration doing nothing but setting bad examples day by day.”

However, in a recent turn of events, it has been revealed by some students that there were some major blunders made by the FAST University administration regarding the memes and allegedly the wrong group and the wrong students were targeted

It has been said that two meme-posting groups were confused by the administration and the wrong group had to undergo all the trouble. Additionally, some students who were no even involved in any such activity, were for some reason, added in the list of notice too.

The student wrote, “It looks like that FAST administration took the opportunity and placed all blame for their incompetence and wrong decisions on the memes shared in the dank group when actually they had no idea of that group or that content at the time of the first committee hearing. They conveniently threw those students under the bus and said that the punishment was given on sharing DANK memes instead of the light humor.”

https://www.facebook.com/ShaykhTaha/posts/10223933629994549

The issue led to students questioning their safety in such a university where administration is adamant on their allegedly false accusations

https://www.facebook.com/Hamza.Hameed.Dar/posts/1632188506928544

https://www.facebook.com/judicialap/posts/10216197958174026

People were staggered by how it appeared that FAST University made a mountain out of a molehill, over memes

People are sharing the stories of affected people and how adversely this decision is taking a toll on their mental health. The memes that have led to this chaos have also been shared

https://twitter.com/khaanwt/status/1277341089264009218

They’ve been condemning this act by FAST-NU and are sharing their feelings of fear.

https://twitter.com/cUteBuNY789/status/1277350393949937664?s=20

They are also pointing out how the decision that was made was an impulsive one and could have been negotiated first

Ironically, people have also taken this ‘golden’ opportunity to make memes out of this situation and troll the university

https://twitter.com/CivilianBlood/status/1277340189518630913?s=20

However, memes that were allegedly the reason for the suspension notice soon appeared on social media as well and they’re disgusting

The fact that students made some disgusting, misogynistic, sexually violent memes for their female administration member is definitely a cause for concern about the mental health of such students. Dangerous levels of incel behavior, however, needs to be properly tackled and not antagonistically admonished thereby allowing it further chances of flourishing unchecked, in underground means. The University’s actions may be positively motivated but the way they handled it was abrupt and messy.

Pakistani men, in particular, and the society, at large, is in dire need of proper education regarding gender sensitivity and channeling ones frustrations in a civilized manner. The large number of sexual crimes that come to light are evidence that the legal system is highly under equipped to properly handle such nuanced matters and all sexually improper behavior is dealt with a large umbrella of jail time or lengthy defamation cases. There is a strong need for improved legislation and education policy to bring our culture up to speed with the advances that technology has allowed.