'Students Are Disturbed By Your Personal Opinions': Bengaluru College To Gay Professor, Sacks Him
Ashley Tellis, Associate Professor and an LGBT rights activist was sacked by a Bengaluru college citing his involvement in "anti-college activities" and for hurting the "sensitivities of undergraduate students from heterogeneous backgrounds" in his classes. Prof. Ashley was teaching in the Department of English, St Joseph's College Bengaluru.
"On March 9 2017, while I am in the middle of a BCom Second Year class, I am asked to come down and meet the Principal of St. Joseph's College of Arts and Sciences, Fr. Victor Lobo, immediately. Once there, he makes me wait for 10 minutes outside the office, while my students are waiting in class. Then he calls me in and tells me: 'Students are disturbed by your personal opinions. The management has got to know of these opinions. I have been asked to relieve you with immediate effect'," he described the events leading to the sacking in a Facebook post.
"I wish the students were really disturbed. It is the job of the teacher to keep the student disturbed. If the student is not disturbed, how will anything change in the world? To be destabilised, to be disturbed is the achievement of the teacher. It is not a reason to fire a teacher", he added in the post.
"As for me, this is not a new story. This is not the first time this has happened to me and it will not be the last. But, unlike the students, I have not, am not and will not take it lying down", Mr. Ashley said.
Reacting to Prof. Ashley's charges, the
college said in a statement that Prof Ashley Tellis was appointed on a temporary six-month contract in November 2016 and he had clearly stated his orientation in his application and at the interview - the college deemed this to be his personal choice.
"Later, while we appreciated his intellectual abilities and his scholarship, we were pained to note that he seemed to pay no heed to the sensitivities of undergraduate students from heterogeneous backgrounds", said the statement.
"After receiving several complaints from students and their parents about Prof Ashley having crossed the line repeatedly in his interaction and comments, the management decided that it would be for the best to terminate his services.", it added.
The Professor now has hit back with several other Facebook posts accusing the college of playing games to expel him from the college.
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