The Taliban in the University

Ok, here is a story you won´t freaking believe is coming from Brasil. Pakistan, maybe, or Saudi Arabia, but not Brasil. In fact, the newspaper headline for the story was "Taliban in the University." I don´t know the journalistic terms (and I don´t feel like waiting until Heitor gets home to ask him), but the page one teaser for the article on page six, was "The Dark Ages."

It seems a 20 year-old night student in a tourism course at a university close to São Paulo...or the São Bernardo campus of a São Paulo university...arrived for class in a mini-skirt, heaven forbid. I won´t go through all of the details of the story and how the situation escalated, but it is enough to know that the professor of the young woman´s class had to lock the doors to keep out the protesting rabble, and that she eventually needed a police escort to leave campus through the horde of cursing, spitting protestors. In the first link below, you will see her being escorted out of the building by police (wearing a long coat supplied by a faculty member that covers her mini-skirt) while other students are yelling at her. You will hear the word "puta" very distinctly.

There was a notice in the newspaper, next to the story, that the university is conducting an inquiry, and at least talking about disciplinary action for those responsible. The university also has four people tracking videos of the incident that have been posted on YouTube. But they have also asked YouTube to remove the videos!

This story is courtesy of, Alexandre, my friend/tutor who made this newspaper story the centerpiece of our class this morning, and who later sent me the links below. As I look at them right now, they are not displayed as links. I hope that you will see them as links after I post this.

The first link shows the young woman being escorted out of the building past a group of hostile students, but it is very brief and doesn´t show the instance where, according to the newspaper account, the police say they had to use pepper spray to clear their way through the mob. I´m usually not inclined to believe the police (here or anywhere else) when they say they "had to" do anything, but in this particular footage they appear very calm and professional. So I´m more inclined to believe that, if they used pepper spray, they were justified in doing so.

The second link has three still photos that show you just how offensive this woman´s dress really was. You will be so shocked. The newspaper story said she had worn the same dress to her niece´s birthday party a few days earlier and that her boyfriend was planning to pick her up after class to go to some other social event.

http://www.saiunojornal.com.br/video-universitaria-da-uniban-aluna-e-ameacada-de-estupro-pelos-alunos-por-usar-minissaia-na-faculdade.html

http://www.saiunojornal.com.br/foto-da-aluna-da-uniban-de-minissaia-universitaria-usava-um-vestido-curto-quando-foi-chamada-de-puta-na-faculdade.html

I can only imagine how agitated these students would be if they saw some of the swimwear, male and/or female, at any of the Brasilean beaches. Perhaps they are just concerned with situation-appropriate apparel.