‘Humiliating to assume…': St Xavier's VC says no teacher forced to resign over Instagram photos

A massive outrage broke out after an assistant professor at a renowned college in Kolkata was allegedly forced to quit her job over a social media post in a swimsuit. While hundreds of online campaigners expressed solidarity, the varsity's vice-chancellor has rebuffed the claim, saying it was “humiliating to assume” the institution would do so.

The incident is linked to the St Xavier's University. The former professor had alleged that she was called by the varsity's internal disciplinary committee and was asked to resign after being shown a printout of her Instagram photos. In a statement, vice-chancellor Father Felix Raj said the university “believes in preserving and maintaining the dignity and honour of its teachers, staff members, students and others connected with it”.

Speaking to news agency PTI, Father Felix Raj strongly rebutted the charge and said that the institute respects privacy of each of its stakeholders. “It may kindly be specifically noted that St Xavier's University, Kolkata, has not forced any teacher to resign. And it is most humiliating to even assume that St Xavier's University, Kolkata, would force any teacher to resign,” he said in a recent statement.

Confirming that a meeting did take place over some photos, the VC said that the woman had herself admitted that a few students and parents were following her Instagram posts, as per the PTI report. He added that she herself apologised in a letter “for any conduct in public domain that was accessible to students which might not be appropriate for a teacher, the very next day”. He denied any instance of any faculty member being asked to resign.

"Needless to mention that you yourself will agree and appreciate that the university always believes in preserving and maintaining the dignity and honour of all its teachers, staff members, students and others connected with it, past and present," the statement read.

A case of ‘inappropriate’ photos

The 31-year-old PhD holder had said that she was forced to resign by an internal disciplinary committee of the university, consisting of female faculty members, the VC and registrar among others for sharing “inappropriate” photos on Instagram. She claimed that the committee told her such photos could have adverse impact on a section of male students and their parents.

She also filed a police complaint in the matter after the authorities, with printouts of the Instagram photos, allegedly told her that the father of one of the undergraduate students had taken up the matter with university after finding his son “staring” at photos.

According to her complaint, the photos shown to her in the interdisciplinary committee meeting were ones that she had shared as an Instagram ‘story’ in 2020 – which lasts only for 24 hours. "The thumbnails in the printout shown to me during the October 7 meeting (last year) were indeed my photos taken in a hotel abroad before I had joined the institution. It was from an Instagram story shared with my friends in early 2020, which cannot be seen by any guardian or his son. It can be viewed for only 24 hours. And none of these people have access to my account," she had said.

The assistant professor resigned on October 25, 2021, a day after she lodged a police complaint alleging her Instagram account was compromised. “How else could the student see my photo? It was my private account. I suspect that another professor with whom I had shared the picture took a screenshot and shared it with that student.”

The teacher, who maintained that nobody else could decide what she should be wearing in her private life, alleged that she also had to submit a letter of apology for “inappropriate conduct”, if any, hurting the image of the institution at the time of resigning.