The love life of LUMS students
The campus of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) is famous for being a bubble environment where risqué fashion trends are explored and high-school soap operas come to life in the midst of hijab-clad women and the bearded folk from LUMS Religious Society. To an outsider visiting LUMS, or possibly visiting Pakistan for the first time, this campus might seem at first encounter like the ideal multicultural environment akin to an ancient city-state where all live in harmony with tolerance.
However, as anyone with a deeper relationship with the campus or its student body can tell you, things aren’t so rosy at LUMS. In fact, the campus often seems divided between conservative, retro-revisionists and ultra-modern, party-hopping, next-generation liberals. Recently, what was previously a silent divide, became verbose on the LUMS campus mail system following a mass message sent out by a conservative student fed up with all the on-campus indecency she’s had to deal with.
Sent on the notable date of September 11 to the ‘General Discussion Group,’ this mail with the subject line ‘To love or not to love’ was a real ’social suicide bomb.’ The mail hit the inboxes of LUMS students and exploded into a fiery debate on public displays of affection (PDA) and sleek clothing versus religious values and cultural traditions. Since its inception, the thread has branched out into several sub-discussions, and subsequent replies from charged respondents range from traditionalists and Islamic ideologists, to ‘Class A’ revisionist hippies and devout atheists – guys, girls, freshmen, seniors, class-clowns, serious academicians alike have freely expressed themselves. So much so that it has caused many LUMS students to complain about the clogged inbox resulting from the same thread.
So what exactly is in this mail that’s so inspiring and polarising? Well, the mail starts with a confessional disclaimer where the claimant says that the goings on of the last month (possibly Ramadan?) have left her no choice but to state her disgust in an open email. She denies any religious connotations of her views and claims to just be dishing out societal critique based on cultural norms. Then the mail leads into the explosive sub-heading: Public Display of Affection.
The complainant starts by pointing at freshmen and ‘some seniors’ who have to ‘seek physical consolation from the members of opposite sex many times in a day’ on campus premises and in public sight. Then she proceeds – like one would in any good paper assignment – to back her claims with examples as evidence:
Quoting few instances: (Readers’ Discretion is advised)
1) Standing at the main entrance, a girl stands on tip of her toes and kisses a boy good bye.
2) Lying in the lawn in front of the library, a boy rolls over the girl lying down beside him and remains in this posture.
3) Sitting in the academic block, a boy constantly rubs a girl’s leg, which are already half bare, with his hand inside her capris.
After doubly bolstering her claim with photographic evidence, she turns to the conflict this kind of social interaction has with her parent’s generation, and the awkwardness some LUMS students have to face when their parents witness this debacle. She also notes the ‘credibility’ of LUMS students and the institution has been put on the line by ‘aunties who spread rumors that doubt the chastity of girls studying in LUMS.’ Citing a personal example, she says even her parents were hesitant in sending her to a place with such a questionable environment.
She goes on to refute the ‘fake hypocritical’ tolerance and liberalism put forth by ‘irreligious and uncultured people’ and fiercely argues for the rights of ‘religious, cultured, and social people.’ Interestingly, she even takes the ‘us versus them’ stance at a point signifying the extent of this expansive cultural rift within this posh college campus.
Ending her diatribe against cultural degradation, she advises policy measures to be taken up by the LUMS administration and draws out rules that outline an inter-gender code of conduct on campus, outlawing on-campus PDA and idealising an innocent return to the ‘LUMS culture’ of the olden day when the lewd and the salacious used to be hidden behind closed doors and bushes.
This e-rant has generated quite the response, opening the floodgates to a debate across campus touching on topics such as freedom, liberation, censorship, social values, multiculturalism, and the clash of civilisations, all laced with witty remarks, outlandish statements, and hyper-polar opinions. Evidently, a lot of concerned LUMS students had opinions on the matter bottled up for as long as they’ve been witnessing this campus spectacle.
Like any hotly debated topic among a group of LUMS students, the debate also takes a very theoretical twist based on the current readings assigned to a given LUMS student trying to come up with an analytical response. While people have cited Plato, Max Weber, Karl Marx, Rumi, and Muhammad Iqbal, others have pointed to the flaws inherent in western schools of thought and how their adoption represents the deterioration of eastern societies.
In one of the many replies morphing content and subject, a student addresses the newly admitted, still innocent freshmen who might be unsuspecting prey to dangerous theories and philosophies:
At LUMS, you will be bombarded with all sorts of atheistic and secular philosophies and ‘isms’. If you do not have the proper knowledge and conviction about Islam, you may fall prey to the untiring efforts of certain faculty members as well as your fellow students to misguide you.
Then the respondent conveniently takes the opportunity to steer this debate into an evangelical venture by diverting traffic to his Islamic website claimed to be providing a wealth of knowledge on religion.
‘I have sinned’ says a student in reply to the guiding light of the mail illuminated above, following with an open declaration of his disbelief:
I shave twice a week and my ‘painchas’ hang obstinately below my heels. I have a penchant for ties that resemble the Christian cross and my satanic dress code is causing me to stray far far away from the straight path. During the holy month, instead of attending Koranic recitals in the mosque, I was listening to the demonic sounds of Pink Floyd.
He follows by saying that he wasn’t like this until he ‘studied under the mischievous and deviant professors’ whose deviant theories made his moral-compass go all awry.
In an interesting turn of events, the Program Coordinator also issued a reply to the thread saying that they had been waiting for the issue to arise in public discourse so that they could take note of this and forward recommendations to the administration, prompting a possible laying down of rules that would prohibit such practices which are apparently not representative of the ‘LUMS culture.’
According to LUMS students, the administration hardly ever replies to the general comments thread. Students have apparently been complaining about malfunctioning campus utilities and the lack of certain essential facilities. A student in reply to the administration email expresses shock at the fact that this is one of the top priorities on the agenda of the LUMS administration.
With the LUMS administration now apparently bent on enforcing moral values, one wonders if an air-tight shariah-imposed zone is going to be the next ‘in-thing’ in LUMS. Perhaps the government will have to step in if public lashings are suddenly going to be enforceable on LUMS girls found with non-mehrams. And with people getting so high-headed and passionate about ‘LUMS culture,’ one is left wondering what exactly this culture is, and how you define a culture. LUMS students on the social-morality mailing thread are not far from the game, however, one LUMS student professes:
As Max Weber said, all social policy- tolerance or intolerance… from more ‘tolerant’ strands of ‘multi-culturalism’ to banning of PDAs to the banning of the Hijab (France: Liberté, égalité, fraternité)- always involves a preference of some values and rejection or relegation of others- even if pretensions are held otherwise.
So what are the guidelines that are supposed to define the parameters of this inter-campus cultural construct? Isn’t LUMS somewhat of a sample population of the country’s educated upper- and middle-class youth subsections? What is the morality of these vast spanning cultural-geographic subgroups influenced by a myriad of mass-media content ranging from cultural franchise to strict traditionalism? And, more importantly, whose job is it to determine that such and such should be the social-cultural ideals that should be respected by everyone?
LUMS must decide whether it is in fact a ‘liberal’ institution. Here, liberal does not mean the promotion of some strange brand of Bollywoodised consumer-culture. Rather, LUMS should ask whether it abides to a stance of universal cultural relativism, where all cultural behavior represents a social expression, promoting a tolerance and an intermingling of discourses to promote understanding through interaction. Or is the university in fact a ‘conservative’ institution, conservative not in the sense that it promotes the fashion of beards, rubber sandals, and high-cuffed trousers, but conservative in the sense that it wants to ‘conserve’ a certain cultural aesthetic, where it wants to shelter it from outside extravagances?
If there is actually an ‘us versus them’ situation brewing in LUMS, then this is probably true for outside of LUMS also. Perhaps instead of enforcing some crudely designed dictum to the word, the administration should take this as an opportunity to encourage debate and discussion on the topic, gather opinions of those involved or affected, and let the strength of ideas stand on their own weight like any academically responsible institution should. Perhaps a democratic path to this issue could help shed some light on the broader national, cultural and political dilemma as well.
Lahore-based Asif Akhtar is interested in critical social discourse as well as the expressive facets of reactive art. He is one of the schizophrenic narrators of a graphic novel and blogs at Lahore-based Asif Akhtar is interested in critical social discourse as well as the expressive facets of reactive art. He is one of the schizophrenic narrators of a graphic novel and blogs at e_scape from nowher_e.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily represent the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
33 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Leave a comment
October 9th, 2009 at 12:42
well written
LUMS Students are also part of this society.
i think extremism in our society is at rise and measures must be taken to curb the extremism, both liberal extremism and religious extremism.
October 6th, 2009 at 11:23
@ Inayat,
I recommend you watch a documentary
“Islam: EMPIRE OF FAITH” at PBS(Public Broadcasting Service, United States”.
It will give you some perspective on Muslim history.
October 5th, 2009 at 15:25
When thanks to self righteous intellectuals, our society is becoming more and more intolerant, public discourse on sensitive issues by LUMS students is a welcoming change. It is expected from university students to talk on any matter with reason and rationale without any prejudices. Still I think people with liberal thought should not go overboard in support of PDA,as it will help conservatives to isolate liberals by labeling them as group of people supporting immoral activities in the society.
October 5th, 2009 at 14:27
I have read through all the comments with much interests noting the diversity in thoughts and opinions of the participants. I do feel however that the words of Ahmed Waheed on 2nd Oct make the most of sense. PDA is a major issue in many muslim countries. Despite being a very modern and tolerant society last year in 2008 the state of Dubai was forced to waive a ban on PDA upon the complaints of many citizens. Having said that it must also be noted that this did not translate into any other forms of prohibitions on the lifestyle of the people of Dubai.
Hence, I feel that while PDA is a issue worth consideration, apart from that there should be no form of criticism on the was of life of certain people. Everybody knows the will of the almighty, if one chooses to go against it, we as humans do not have the right or authority to correct him by force. Yes, there is a difference betweeen suggestion and imposition. The former might be welcome and the latter is certainly not.
October 3rd, 2009 at 11:56
I believe that the woman has actually done a favor on us “so called muslims” by highlighing some critical issues that are leading us to the road to ruin. IF u call yourself a muslim then also be one. Talking about liberalism and convervatism is easy. what is difficult is to study our religion and the standards and limits it has set for us. We are all blessed with a Miracolous present “THE HOLY QURAN” and also The “Sunnah” of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). All the muslim students who are studying in Lums or outside lums should question themselves “Are they on the right track according to the standards set by their religion”? “Do they desrve to call them muslims when they are hihly inspired by the western culture and want to take out their complexes in this society?” what do you want to prove? No body is perfect. If you love liberalism Please choose the societies where Liberalism is applauded and imbedded deeply not worked on. Please do not decieve yourself and reject the opinions that in your opinion are “conservative”. Please open your minds and think deeply for a change. the woman expressed something that is not good for anyone of us. I applaud her for expressing the predicament of many at LUMS and not only her.
October 3rd, 2009 at 11:40
This whole debate will go on and on, until someone gives a proper definition of morality (read moral values of our society) … I agree with that part that everything has it’s limits and boundaries (except imagination), but I also believe that our society is becoming more intolerant day by day (the blame has to be put on both the liberals and the conservatives). Collectively, as a society we haven’t learnt much about socio-cultural behavior… The state has played a pivotal role in this whole process by giving it a silent treatment. The real problem is that how we define culture and the culture of Pakistan, the extreme conservatives identify our cultures with that of Saudi Arabia and the extreme liberals don’t believe in this hubbub (as they simply don’t care) and the moderates find themselves deeply entangled between them.
Talking about PDA, in a country like ours where co-eduacation is considered a menace, where a girl having friends with the ‘other kind’ is considered ‘immoral’, where religion is used as a tool for exploitation, there is an urgent need to define a national cultural identity …
The founder of this country was a secular man ( people have even doubts on this statement ) ….
October 3rd, 2009 at 11:33
Good education, decent behavior and high ethical standards is what make us ‘tall’ in-front of the masses than choosing to be ‘hunky-funky’.LUMS, is indeed a respectable institution where people are focused in achieving quality education but NOT at the cost of giving their values. With ‘freedom’ comes responsibility and with responsbility comes ‘accountability’ to all of our actions. Irresponsible behavior by few(individuals) does not reflect the true spirit of LUMS contribution to our economy nor it has any relevance to whats been taught by the faculty. However, these things shouldn’t get un-noticed. Counselling/Seminars should take place to educate young blood of who we are, why we are here, and what our community expect from us.
October 3rd, 2009 at 11:25
@ INAYAT:
I was shocked to see your comment. You seriously think that there is absolutely nothing that Muslims offered in science and technology? Have you ever read a book on history in your life, or a science book for that matter?
You seriuosly think that technological advancements somehow comes from PDAs, provocative dressing, and all that “freedom” (without responsibility)?
The ‘consrvative’ school I came from, taught me that all advancements come from your devotion to education and research. Since, you come from LUMS , you must be right then..
October 3rd, 2009 at 10:55
i sincerly hope no action is taken by the adminstration against so called modern “culture” is not because of liberties provided to lums students, i have started my practicle life after lums and i treasure those idealist debates i used to have they have transformed my view on life even though books and life have nothing in common. there is a lot of time in life to learn and respect the pakistani culture and our values sorry using “culture” as if this a separate relm but to drive home my point. having a multicultural open minded university lifes only reaffirmed my resolve in the values i believed were right, doing everything behind closed doors ehehheheehe is not the answer my friends doing the right thing and believing in it the key.
October 2nd, 2009 at 21:33
When i saw LUMS for the first time i was surprised to see its facilities. It is very beautiful.
October 2nd, 2009 at 17:43
I wish we all have this much devotion for our nation.
I wish we all have the passion to grow our nation and bring it on the stage of super powers.
Instead of we keep wasting our time on ridiculing others, because we are happy with that only.
If liberals start saying that they hate to see beards then what?
If we are not intruding in your life then why are you so worried for us. Let the people choose what they want.
Stop forcing Plezzzzzzzzzz
October 2nd, 2009 at 17:36
@INAYAT . . West has NOT progressed because of indecency! These are two seperate things! U dont progress by bein unethical and indecent. Progress has nothing to do with it . . . I hope LUMS has taught u atleast this much!
October 2nd, 2009 at 17:33
LUMS has a mix environment but we should not abuse the freedom that this institution has given us. I think there should be boundaries and limits to every thing. If other nations have risen then its not because they did not stop PDA. If we go back then Muslims were the leaders of all science and technology.
Control is what makes us humans otherwise we will all me mere animals giving in to our lust and urges.
October 2nd, 2009 at 17:03
The extra mod environment of LUMS is damaging the image of institution generally in public; I think it may be that education level of institution may be competing with any other institutions of other countries but we must think that we living in an Islamic country, and there should be some limitations and bindings and administration of LUMS should be realize and mull over the immoral activities in institution.
Many parents are reluctant to send their sons & daughters owing to extra mod atmosphere which morally destroy the children’s, If we conduct a general debate among the mob on this issue. I think society will oppose the immoral ambiance.
October 2nd, 2009 at 16:58
Freedom of speech, thought and expression are important aspects of a society, but freedom and responsibility have to go hand in hand. Should I ridicule another persons views and call it freedom of speech? Should I go slap someone and say I’m freely expressing myself? Obviously I wouldn’t. Why then behave in a manner that offends others? Freedom does not mean ‘do what ever you want its ok’. You have to respect others and their views. If a large chunk of the student population considers these acts of public display of affection as cultural vices then perhaps the administration should do something about it, while keeping other views in mind. Perhaps assign a separate location to the ‘lovers’.
October 2nd, 2009 at 16:39
Simple question.
1. How many inventions till date we (including all countries who follows Islam) made?
2. What we are doing for the happiness of our own human fellows?
3. How long we want to fight against western culture and and western ideas?
For me the answer is we need such a institution’s where we can think freely and do freely whatever we want. We can’t grow till the time we are bounded in a particular thought and culture. It should be on us what we want to do and what we don’t want to do.
Above of all we can’t even make a simple Moter- Cycle or Car on our own and we are dependent on them. They are developing day by day and we are stuck with our self made conservative system.
How long you want to be dependent on them?
Sorry for offending but I think we need to think.
Why they are far ahead and we ……..
Proud to be a LUMSite.
October 2nd, 2009 at 16:34
This is a sheer lack of managment.
Such culture if comes out to the streets, which i am affraid already is, will lead to catostrofic consequences.
The students are a great power and they can take up the innitiative in a positive and peace full manner to end this false culture of LUMS.
October 2nd, 2009 at 16:07
who is this person who wrote this article?? is he a lums student or professor??
i dont understand why people cant let each other be. why cant people respect each others choices and stop ridiculing them
October 2nd, 2009 at 16:00
Happens in all campuses, KU, PU, KC and people somehow even manage in the Allama Iqbal Open university. So the the entire PDA fiasco is an exaggerated rant by a young woman seeking to impose her view of life on others – exactly like many religious people tend to do in Pakistan.
We’ve got bigger problems – much much bigger problems – than public displays of affection in our education system.
Sadly, being prudish and conservative Pakistanis who think they have a very very good idea of what moral values ’should’ be (Mr. Ashar Hameed), we are overly occupied by non issues and criticisms of trivial matters that have nothing to do with progress.
Let the liberals be liberals, conservatives be conservatives. He who wants to practice religion, go ahead – he who doesn’t shouldn’t have to either.
October 2nd, 2009 at 15:53
Before publishing an internal campus debate on a public forum, the author should have visited LUMS and observed the campus life himself. LUMS is NOT what the author has described it to be in his post. Basing his entire argument on a couple of emails from the students does not really reflect well on the article’s credibility. The LUMS community is very tolerant to others views and activities. Trying to engage people in a ‘healthy debate’ while keeping the reputation of a prestigious institution at stake is indeed a deplorable act. The author should have acted more responsibly before attempting to defame one of the most prestigious educational institution of Pakistan.
October 2nd, 2009 at 15:48
Very well written…
Laying out the question neatly is a very big step in discussing this issue. When I address it introspectively, these conflicting ideals in my atmosphere (as an educated, young Pakistani member of the ‘elite’) seem so complex, that it makes my head spin. I consider myself to be somewhere ‘moderately’ in between these two mindsets myself, however when the choice is given between them what would I do?
The answer is: I don’t know. And that, I think, is how many of ‘us’ feel today.
October 2nd, 2009 at 15:29
I don’t think we should be bemoaning the fact that we have such an ongoing debate here. We should laud it and encourage it, if we are to ever find a natural, organic social balance in this society.
October 2nd, 2009 at 15:23
We will have to think and conceive things like a normal human being. In this world both the good and the bad forces are always present. So we should not highlight the bad just because of some badism. We should be proud of LUMS as the only international institute available to us. We should admire and be vocal for the goodness with the intention to point the evils but should not be haunted of it. Please let the life move on with its openness.
October 2nd, 2009 at 14:29
wow had I known such things go on at LUMS I would have opted for LUMS rather than IBA
October 2nd, 2009 at 14:04
Public Display of Affection is something we can discuss and debate. There shall be support from personal freedom advocates and reasoning from ethics and manners groups. LUMS admin should learn the rule that ‘your freedom’s limit lie where my nose starts’. Public decency and ethics is something everyone should respect.
October 2nd, 2009 at 13:38
As crude and bizarre as the email was, there is actually no ‘us vs them’ in LUMS. There’s a great diversity of inidividuals in the student population of LUMS and they are tolerant of each other’s views and activities. Nor does LUMS ever witness thewould be called immoral societal acts as the rantings of the claimant used as ‘reference material’ supposedly ‘observed’.
I just wish that print agencies will avoid defaming a credible institution with a very health and non-confrontational environment with minor speculation on blogs to speculate reader interest through ‘gossip’.
October 2nd, 2009 at 13:34
Generally it is extremely difficult to devise a set of moral rules which are acceptable to a diverse population. If few want individualism and a free society, others want to frame everything according to religion. LUMS student body is very diverse; people come from all kind of backgrounds. So imposing rules won’t work and in my view will be wrong. The best solution is to let them debate on this issue and then ultimately agreeing on a minimal set of mutually agreed campus “norms”.
October 2nd, 2009 at 13:20
I’m surprised and saddened by the author who himself portrays as a classic case of identity crisis and a case study. We live in the “Islamic Republic Of Pakistan”, not the “Liberal Republic of Sociopaths”. The problem amongst us today is that we have too much tolerance for nudity and public display of affection, lack of ethics, morals and the pride in chastity etc. We are becoming a society too influenced by Bollywood and Hollywood and the lack of understanding of religion of certain families tend to push their offspring to atheism which does not really offer a moral code.
We are all responsible for those that stray, be it from our religion or our moral/social values. Universities and institutions were once sacred and valued places second only to places of worship. The students have my sympathies.
October 2nd, 2009 at 13:13
Well said… many parents are reluctant to send their sons & daughters to LUMS because of its extremely liberal student life. Living amidst a conservative culture where social & religious traditions are held in high-esteem,obviously these kind of ‘acts’ won’t be welcomed. It’s time for LUMS administration to take few steps before these kind of news make adverse effects on LUMS’s public image.
October 2nd, 2009 at 12:38
V interesting reading … has totally inspired me to enlist in the next available course in LUMS ! … On a serious note, this is again a situation which is definitely an aftermath of 9/11 and Mr. Bush’s ‘either you are with us or against us’ divide. Our society has been tolerant and various degree of religiousness seems to have co-existed very conveniently until this ‘War of terror’ (err… ‘on’ terror) … We should avoid this ‘us against them’ division at all cost, if we are to survive as a society and as a nation. True there should be some boundaries and limits and social norms on both extremes. But with in a defined parameter every one should be free to follow there own will! Live and let live (but do respect others point of view as well).
October 2nd, 2009 at 12:17
Well written, and I applaud the author for uncovering some critical aspects of LUMS life. In my view, this so called socio-cultural imbalance is actually emerging from our own very society as a whole. LUMS is simply providing a (totally goaless & un-governed social) platform for its further exposure!! I do not see any short-term solution to this unless we define what exactly we want to become!!
October 2nd, 2009 at 12:06
The author summs up his article by asking wheather LUMS should espouse wo be a liberal or a conservative institution. He also states that LUMS is representative of the cross section of Pakistani culture.
I disagree that LUMS represents a cross section of Pakistani culture. LUMS is representative of a bubble within the Pakistani culture. Pakistanis are not particularly religious or ‘educated’ or rich. LUMS students are all of the above.
Now its an altogether different question whether the LUMS culture or the people who live within this bubble in Pakistan and whose children attend this institution and others like it, is in need of some guidance?
People like Nadeem F Paracha and those of his ilk who argue in the author of this blog’s words for a “universal cultural relativism, where all cultural behavior represents a social expression, promoting a tolerance and an intermingling of discourses to promote understanding through interaction” do not in general represent the masses of Pakistan even though Pakistanis are not religious.
Most poor pakistanis are too preoccupied by the struggle to make ends meet ulike those not part of the “middle class” or I would say the rich class. The argument for a clutural relativism by a member of the “rulers of the masses” is really just a slap in their face.
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:57
I didn’t know that our private war would en dup here, neither do I approve of it…