LUMS Alumni Action Forum

GoFundMe link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/LUMSAlumniFund
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Breaking from its commitments, according to current students, the LUMS administration has decided to re-calibrate the Financial Aid which had been made available earlier.

While these steps are taken under "strategic restructuring", hundreds of Students are likely to suffer in the incoming semester, possibly at the risk of dropping out, as they can not pay for the sudden burden of Lacs of rupees in fees.

Keeping in mind these unforeseen circumstances, LUMS Alumni are setting up a Support Fund as a short-term solution to assist these students.

LUMS Alumni, students, community members, faculty and others are requested to donate to the fund, ideally at least $5.

In the long-run, the LUMS Alumni Action Forum may take up the matter with the administration, as it brings severe embarrassment to the community, put students' parents under undue stress, creates a dichotomy of 'Have' and 'Have-nots' rather than ensure meritocracy, and attracts students through false advertisements of support when it can clearly not fully support them.

Hoping for your kind support. Find details in the Link.

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LAAF

https://twitter.com/lumssaac/status/1114809599163498496?s=21

LUMS Students-Alumni on Twitter “Statement from on serious misconduct using a Facebook group by Male students currently at LUMS. Such behavior will not be tolerated. Dated: 07/04/2019”

It has come to our attention that several Male students of the current LUMS student body have been actively engaged in an Online forum to denigrate and abuse their female fellows. The students involved have deliberately used the forum to encourage sexual misconduct and demean others with bigoted content, ignorantly claiming it to be free-speech.

This misconduct has hurt the bonds of trust and understanding that exist between each Luminite. Furthermore, it highlights the need for the LUMS community to hold strong to their progressive values, instil empathy and continue working towards gender equality.

LSAAC believes that such misconduct should be treated with complete disassociation from the individuals involved. The conduct cannot be set aside as simple mischief or taken as humour. It is an expectation of every Luminite that they behave as mature individuals.

Lastly, individuals who have been affected by the content directly, if such a case exists, should consider filing charges of misconduct. Leniency on serious misconduct breeds more misconduct. Stand tall.

Dated: 07/04/2019

Fida Hassan, Class of 2017, lost his battle against Blood Cancer on September 26, 2018. Fida was a scholar of the National Outreach Programme and an epitome of hard work, perseverance and unflinching resilience.
We remember this departed soul and express deepest condolences to the family.

Students from the LUMS Class of 2017 have been intimated today evening: The President of Pakistan will no longer be coming to the 29th Annual LUMS Convocation.

The previously enforced restrictions have also been relaxed and the event will take place as it has been traditionally.

Kindly use the hashtag to organize all social media activity.

Here's Why LUMS Students Are Protesting Against The President Mamnoon Hussain "Hijacking" Their Convocation LUMS has managed to mess up the convocation ceremony for its graduating batch by inviting the President and putting in place demonic security measures

Statement and Petition from the Class Of 2017 (Graduating Batch) Regarding Arrangements Of The 29th Annual LUMS Convocation



To the Honorable Office Bearers of the LUMS Adminstration,

In light of uncountable individual requests made to the Administration and the subsequent unaccommodating attitude the entire Graduating Batch has had to face, We, the Class of 2017, see it unavoidable to reach a solution to our problems under the current circumstances, and therefore are making a collective request to institute resolutions to the problems which have been repeated highlighted over the past few weeks.

Dated: 04/07/2017

Sign the petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/relaxation-of-restrictions-on-lums-convocation-day

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Full-text of Statement/Petition
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To the Honorable Office Bearers of the LUMS Administration,

We are writing this email to register a strong collective protest of the student body against the arrangements made for Convocation 2017. We the students believe, the invitation of the Honorable President of Pakistan by this administration has completely compromised the entire ceremony. The student body unanimously is in agreement that the entire administrative machinery of LUMS has been geared towards planning the convocation ceremony for the Batch of 2017 with the interests and concerns of the students as the LOWEST priority.

The student body at LUMS is an active, dynamic and passionate body. A convocation holds a special place in the life of a student and his family. It has been a day we all have been working towards and therefore we wish to capture it and enjoy it to the fullest. LUMS has always had a tradition of granting its students a great amount of freedoms and that has been what makes LUMS the university it is today. But the policies by the LUMS administration in regards to the Convocation 2017 have been sad for us as students to see. The Graduating Batch of 2017 is in agreement on these following points and we require their immediate rectification from the administration:

1. The security verification of our guests has not only been insulting but the measures being implemented are excessive: LUMS has always had a tradition of keeping the campus open for all of the students and their guests for purposes of photography etc. We demand the LUMS administration to open the campus with all of its facilities (especially restaurants and shops as the high heat in Lahore during the afternoon requires adequate spaces for food and drinks for our parents and families) during the convocation ceremony while make adequate arrangements for those seated in SBASSE watching the ceremony online and ensuring students and their guests have the ability to enjoy the campus grounds unfettered throughout the duration of the convocation ceremony (7am-2pm). We also demand that students be greatly facilitated by the LUMS administration when changing their guests due to reasonable considerations: the case of a particular Mr. Ali Haider (Member of the Graduating Batch) has greatly disturbed us.

2. The ban of mobile phones and cameras in the marque is simply not acceptable. The Graduating Batch is unanimously in agreement that given our hard years studying at LUMS and our families and friends supporting us, we cannot and will not accept any arrangement that compromises our or our parent’s ability to capture this momentous occasion as per our individual wishes: frankly sir, this moment is too big for us to rely on the inadequate photography arrangements made by LUMS, they are not enough and they never can be so remove the ban on personal mobile phones and cameras.

3. The ban on mobile phones is also not acceptable for us due to communication purposes. The convocation ceremony requires us to be in constant communication with our peers and guests at all time. In no vague terms sir, we demand that mobile signals are not jammed and our mobile phones be made available in the marque so we can smoothly enjoy this momentous event to its fullest, rather than spend it stressing as we cannot find our friends or family.

4. The time slots allotted for collection of Alumni Cards till Thursday 6th July 2017 for all graduating students is a perfect example of the mismanagement of this administration in planning the convocation. The ad-hoc timing that has been granted for collection of Alumni cards for ‘exceptional cases’ on Friday 7th July 2017 by this administration as an afterthought is a true sign of how much thought the administration is giving to the concerns of the student body when planning this. We demand that all Convocation proceedings be planned in accordance with ease of students, especially those coming from other cities with their families as they have no accommodation at LUMS to arrive earlier.

5. Lastly, we require the LUMS administration to guarantee that the graduating batch and their guests will not be mishandled or inappropriately treated by the President’s security staff. We require LUMS representatives to be manning every gate and to provide welcome and help to the graduating students and their guests. Issues of IBA students (and their parents) being denied entry by the President’s security team in a previous convocation of IBA are known to us and scare us. We want to be assured that issues such as late arrival to the venue or some other minor fault will not compromise a student’s or his/her guest’s enjoyment or attendance of the convocation.

6. The Graduating Batch of 2017 also feels entitled towards having complete clarity in regards to the proceedings of Convocation of 2017 and the rules being enforced. At the moment there is a great amount of confusion regarding what is and is not allowed by the administration due to contradictory statements from different members of the administration and promises being communicated to the Student Council not being adhered too in the emails being sent. We hope the administration will coordinate and respond to our queries in a collective and consistent manner and a 24/7 helpline to be set up by LUMS for student’s queries because on that day we are not only coming ourselves but bringing our guests along and require complete clarity to make plans etc.

As our administration, we believe that our voice should be heard and acted upon by you. With great respect and deference, we as students of LUMS trust you as our administration to make the right calls and keep our interests at the foremost. However, if you fail to hear our voice now, we will be forced to make our dissatisfaction heard through other means. We do not wish to ruin this amazing day that is almost upon us. We want to enjoy this moment we have worked so hard for, please don’t take it away from us.

Thank you,
We the undersigned,
LUMS Graduating Batch of 2017

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In the midst of complicit silence, a small, silent protest.

A tombstone of the many green spaces we have lost and continue to lose.

Zia Hussain Syed (center), a LUMS Alumnus, Fullbright scholar and an active member of our community, was barred from re-entering the US when he was returning to the University of Chicago after the Winter holidays. For the past three months, Zia has had to deal with a multitude of issues, including personal trauma and the prospect of having to give up his dream of studying Divinity.

In a Facebook post, Zia recounted his ordeal and request for support.

"In an unforeseen turn of events, earlier this year, I was stopped at Karachi airport and denied travel to US which I was undertaking with the intention of continuing my graduate studies at the University of Chicago.

The first quarter of 2017 has by far been the most difficult time of my life. Having only started my studies in Divinity - a life long dream, I found myself in a limbo with a possibility of never getting to tread on the path of knowledge that I had only recently discovered. Moreover, the pain of being suddenly separated from the academic ecosystem which was closer to my heart than any place I had ever called home. In these tough times, my family and my close friends from around the world became a fortress of support and encouragement. While I still have no definite sense of whether or not I will be able to continue my education at University of Chicago - I reached out to media with the primary motivation of raising my voice against injustice. I believe my silence in the face of injustice will be my biggest failure therefore I implore you all, near and far, to please help me spread this world and let it reach to every corner of the globe."

With the new government in the US, it is much more important to resist policies aimed against scholars. Any one of us could become a victim. We request all LUMS Students and Community to share widely, tweet and post with .

"If history, philosophy and so on vanish from academic life, what they leave in their wake may be a technical training facility or corporate research institute. But it will not be a university in the classical sense of the term, and it would be deceptive to call it one.

Neither, however, can there be a university in the full sense of the word when the humanities exist in isolation from other disciplines. The quickest way of devaluing these subjects – short of disposing of them altogether – is to reduce them to an agreeable bonus. Real men study law and engineering, while ideas and values are for sissies. The humanities should constitute the core of any university worth the name."

The death of universities | Terry Eagleton Terry Eagleton: Academia has become a servant of the status quo. Its malaise runs so much deeper than tuition fees