Weeks after a St Xavier's University (SXU) Kolkata professor alleged that she was forced to quit the university over her private Instagram photos, the SXU VC has claimed that they did not terminate her services, and 'protected her career' instead. Felix Raj's response to the incident comes at a time when there have been weeks of outrage over the issue.
N*, the professor had told BOOM in detail about how SXU called a meeting with seven people in October 2021 over her private Instagram photos, which left her completely in shock.
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Raj, has meanwhile claimed, reported The Indian Express, that the professor was on probation and she quit on her own. The newspaper quoted the VC as saying, "St Xavier's did not force anyone to resign. When someone is on probation, if the university is dissatisfied, either of the two sides can give notice and end the relationship. The teacher concerned was on probation and had completed just two months (at St. Xavier's). If the institution wanted, it could have terminated her services. But as a Jesuit institution, we always look out for our teachers and students. We wanted to protect her career."
N had told BOOM that she had a panic attack when she entered the meeting where seven people, only three of whom she knew, were passing around printouts of her private Instagram stories. Raj was one of the people in the meeting and had told her that her photos in a swimsuit were "objectionable". N has maintained that she put up the photos in question before she joined SXU as a professor. She is also an alumna of St Xavier's college.
She has questioned how they found the photos of Instagram stories when they usually disappear in 24 hours. She had told BOOM, "Someone had been gathering ammo on me and used it with malafide intent in a concerted attempt to destroy me. Why I am so important I don't know. Why was I targeted? I don't know," she said.
While the college has claimed that they called the meeting after a complaint from a parent of a boy who is a student in SXU, N has not been told who that person is. She said she was asked to resign without an explanation on who the parent was, or the student, or how they had access to the photos she put up as an Instagram story before she joined SXU and why she was being punished for something she did in the privacy of her own home. "It was incredible sorrow, humiliation and a sense of injustice. I had a breakdown," she had said.
Several other former students of St Xavier's Kolkata had told BOOM that the college had a history of moral policy, enforcing strict dress codes, and even keeping a tab on the professor's personal lives. However, Raj told The Indian Express, "These are criticisms on social media. St Xavier's is a brand and everyone on social media wants to attack (us). Will social media be a judge? We were not inhuman to her. We were kind to her. She was one of our students earlier and now our teacher."
*The name of the professor is being withheld to protect her identity.