Global Student Stories – 26 January 2016

This week’s global student stories come from Pakistan, Edinburgh, the USA and Turkey.

Pakistan: Terrorist attack at Bacha Khan University

On Wednesday, there was a gun and bomb attack on a university in Pakistan, killing 21 people and injuring others.

The attack occurred at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, in northwest Pakistan, and resulted in a three-hour battle between security forces and the gunmen.

Pakistan observed a day of national mourning on Thursday, with flags flying at half-mast on all government buildings.

The Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif stated that, “We are determined and resolved in our commitment to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland.”

There is current dispute as to which militant group is behind the attack, with two Taliban spokesmen both claiming and disavowing the attack, respectively.

This comes after several cases of terrorist action over the past few months.

Edinburgh: University bans offensive costumes

Edinburgh University has implemented a ban on students dressing in “offensive” costumes, such as blackface, Caitlyn Jenner, and mental patients.

The Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA), which introduced the ban, has stated: “You may not intend to hurt anyone when picking out your costume, and you may not even think there’s a problem, but it’s important to consider the impact your choices will have.”

This comes after several scandals involving students in blackface.

The EUSA added: “It is also not acceptable to use props to emphasise racial characteristics in order to convey an individual or character.

“A good costume should be clear enough that you do not need racial or cultural additions.”

However, this has been met with backlash from some students, with a petition entitled “Reinstate Free Speech at the University of Edinburgh” gaining almost 900 signatures.

The petition, started by Philosophy student Charlie Peters, argues that the freedom of speech is being impinged upon and that universities are sheltering students from dissenting views, “betraying the most basic ideals of education.”

This has also been supported by Richard Dawkins who re-tweeted the petition.

USA: Survey on number of female college students reporting sexual assault

The United States Department of Justice has released a 450-page report looking at over 50,000 college students and their experiences with sexual assault.

One of the questions asked was: “Why do female college students not report rape to various authorities?”

Overwhelmingly the answer given was that they did not want assistance or action taken, as it was not serious enough to report.

The second highest answer was that others might think they were partly in fault, and the victims themselves would get into trouble.

The responses indicate the general belief that officials could not handle sexual assault cases adequately.

The report also found that those who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender were more likely to be victims of sexual assault than heterosexual students.

Finally, the report found that students reported more sexual assault in their freshman year than in junior or senior years, with rate of incidents also dropping slightly.

You can view the statistics in full here.

Turkey: academics arrested, with division among students

With 27 Turkish academics arrested earlier this month, there have been further restrictions to academic freedoms in universities.

The Turkish Government has responded aggressively to a petition released on 11 January that was signed by over 1,400 academics and researches in Turkey and abroad, as well as an open letter signed by foreign academics such as Noam Chomsky.

Prime Minister Erdoğan denounced the criticism, saying not all professors are “so-called intellectuals”.

The response in Turkish universities has also been mixed.

There has been a rise in nationalist presence on campuses, with students marking professors’ doors and posing threats to individuals who signed the petition.

However, there have also been criticisms of the government.

Most notably, college student Emine Akbaba has been suspended from Ege University in Izmir due to her support for imprisoned Turkish journalists.

There have also been worries about how the arrests will impact the Erasmus exchange programme, as previously European universities have threatened ending their exchange with Turkish universities.