Remember and reclaim student autonomy

COMMENT | The last time I was at the Islamic International University of Malaysia (IIUM), the organisers of a Women's Day event called security on me because I wouldn't move from my seat.

I was there for a ridiculous debate entitled "Do Muslim Women Need Feminism" where both debaters were men, and they were both anti-feminism.

Apparently, I was seated in the "men's section" of the hall and so subsequently, I was asked to move to the "women's section" of the hall.

"Gender segregation in a university?" I thought. What are we? Five-year-olds?

I declined the request to move. I was nowhere near a man anyway and even if I was sitting close to a man, what is wrong with that? We were all adults in a public forum at a public space. What is so inappropriate about that?

The organisers were shocked at my answer. They could not believe that I refused to move. I told them that I would not move for that ridiculous reason.

"I'm sorry, you really have to move, this is the rule," they said.

"It's a stupid rule," I replied.

"Sorry that you think it is stupid, but you have to move," they insisted.

"No, I don't. This is a university, not a kindergarten. I'll sit wherever I want to sit."

Still seated, I told them for the last time, I was not going to move.

They asked me to move several more times, but I ignored them. They threatened to move me by force, I warned them I'd fight back if they touched me. I guess that was when they started calling the security.

To be honest, it felt like a Rosa Parks moment. But instead of it being a racial segregation issue, this was a gender segregation issue.

It was the year 2016 and a publicly funded international university still has such a baseless ruling. Adults who are smart enough to be enrolled into tertiary education are treated like children who are told where to sit their butts in a public lecture hall.

I'd like to think that this does not happen all the time at IIUM, but apparently it was an actual policy at the university, and normal classes also segregate men and women, not just public forums...