Students of Dhaka University’s English Department staged a symbolic protest on Monday against Associate Professor Tasneem Siraj Mahboob over allegations that she called a student wearing a niqab a “fundamentalist” and a “terrorist”.
Students from the 2020-21 academic session held the protest in classrooms, wearing black masks and showing red cards in solidarity with the student.
They also alleged that Tasneem had called six male students sitting on the same bench “gay” and “poor”, describing the remarks as discriminatory and insulting.
Slogans displayed during the protest included “Red card to racist, classist and hypocrite” and “Red card to those who support discrimination, humiliation and bullying”.
The protest followed an incident on October 7, when Tasneem reportedly made the remarks about a niqab-wearing student during a class.
The university authorities later relieved Tasneem of all teaching duties for that batch and reassigned her courses to other faculty members.
Mohammad Nayeem, a student of the English Department, told Daily Waadaa that Tasneem had failed to adequately address the allegations during a Facebook Live session, instead delivering what he described as a one-sided statement that appeared to have been generated with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).
Nayeem also accused members of the University Teachers’ Network and their supporters of backing Tasneem and portraying the students as the main offenders.
Umme Salma, an English Department student and DUCSU common room and cafeteria secretary, alleged that Tasneem had previously made insulting remarks about students’ sandals and their accommodation in university halls, calling them “poor” and saying they had bad body odour.
Salma accused the teacher of attempting to demean students during a Facebook Live session on October 10 by denying the allegations. She further claimed that Tasneem’s political circle and left-leaning students were trying to shift the blame onto the students.
“Our red-card protest is against the teacher’s bullying, racism and hijab phobia,” she said.
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