I didnt want to add my opinion to a matter I have no evidence on. But there were a few points I wanted to raise while we all get together and support Gaurav and Rashmi in their crusade.
I followed with amused interest on IIPM and the rising ire of the bloggers and my interest reached a new high when Gaurav Sabnis resigned from IBM for standing by his freedom of expression.
Now I condemn wholeheartedly the response of IIPM students who have not shown any kind of etiqutte or moral ethics that any student ideally should. While I do appreciate they have full right to express themselves in whatever manner they deem appropriate, they do not have the right to slander another person.
This is exactly what Gaurav Sabnis did in his first IIPM post. There was no substantiated evidence that he had to claim anything about Arindam Chaudhari. I have no clue who Arindam is or what he does, but to say that he is a fraud without any evidence is not what a responsible blogger would do.
Update: Forgive me if I sound as if it is entirely Gaurav's fault, it isnt but there were a few words that were used quite losely which as a popular blogger with a huge audience was sure to invite attention from the IIPM 'legal cell'.
But the worst part was the response from the so-called IIPM students, I do not know who they are (being so anonymous) but leaving such disgusting messages about Rashmi or threatening to burn some IBM Thinkpads is a very nasty response from a university that is serving a legal notice to a blogger for doing exactly the same thing -albeit more decently and eloquently.
(Students being the representatives of the University, and if it is true that the Dean sent a mail saying the students are threatening to burn IBM Thinkpads, then I do hold the university responsible for not taking action against the students who act in violent disregard of morality and slandering the university's name in that process).
So, the point comes to the resignation. What I am disappointed about is that it seems to me that it sends out the message that IIPM has gained ground because of their 'gundaism' and that Gaurav had no choice except that to protect his freedom of expression. Moreover, it seems to be interpreted as the bloggers being the meek helpless victims.
But if IBM did not ask him to remove those offending posts nor ask him to resign, I do not see any reason why he should. Instead, he might have simply stood by his claims (with evidence) and let them do what they said they would. Nobody stood to lose more than IIPM by this violent behaviour of so-called management students. Moreover, with evidence, nobody would be more embarassed than the 'law enforcement officials' who sent a legal notice to Gaurav. If truth is to speak louder than words, we need to be responsible for our words by substantiating them.
Also, there seems to be a curiously anonymous andy who is not willing to show who he/she is but instead accuses rashmi of not being professional. I would only suggest him to first be responsible for his comments by stop being anonymous and rebutting the claims without vindictiveness or slander.
Comments
3 years 12 weeks ago, Kaps wrote:
Gaurav linked to JAM Mag article which had done the primary research and brought out an expose on IIPM. He just added his viewpoints on those. Hence we can't say that he made baseless allegations.
3 years 12 weeks ago, divya wrote:
Kaps: I am not talking about the allegations they made but the ones he has added. Calling somebody 'fraud' requires some basis, and the article suggests the university is sleazy and seems fake but does not call Arindham a fraud.
3 years 12 weeks ago, Nandini wrote:
What I agree with you about is the whole resignation incident. There seems to be something fishy in the whole affair - who quits their job just because some crackpots threatened to burn laptops because of comments on a personal blog?
But if we take the information we have at face value, there's only one way to look at things.
1. Gaurav has every right to call anyone he pleases a fraud, especially if he's giving his reasons for doing so. It's a personal blog!
2. He never called Arindham a fraud. Read carefully. He calls the IIPMs a fraud (and links to an article that supports this opinion with what at least seems to be solid research). He also raises his strong doubts about this Arindham fellow's qualifications, but this isn't libel, merely speculation.
3 years 12 weeks ago, divya wrote:
Nandini: The rules of law extends to blogging. Blogs are in the public domain and there is nothing 'personal' about blogs. People have been fired for what they write on their blogs. And the only protection you can get is when you have a semblance of control over who reads your articles. There are consequences to what you write!
I agree he didnt. But speaking about IIPM screwing lives of people is something that is unquantifiable and words were used without responsibility there. I think that got him. Also, JAM seems to be researched, but this mysterious Andy seems to suggest otherwise, whose words do we take for truth?
3 years 12 weeks ago, nmk wrote:
If the students want to burn perfectly good laptops to show that they are from a quality institution, let them. Shows stupidity to me rather than protest.
3 years 12 weeks ago, Ravi wrote:
Divya,
I smell a mouse with that name 'Andy'. Could it be that its King Rat himself? I mean, the letters A, N & D are very much present in his first name, ya know...
Anyway. All the ardous hours spent in painstaking analysis for deducing the above coupled with the sheer grit and gumption on my part to present it here - am I now not qualified for that coveted 'Management Guru 2005' award from our friends here in Chennai - Om Venkatesa Society? You'll second my name, wont you? Om Shanthi Om!
;)
3 years 12 weeks ago, divya wrote:
NMK: Exactly!
Ravi: LOL! You are SO FUNNY tht I will definitely second your name for the Management Guru Award!
3 years 12 weeks ago, puneetworld wrote:
hey hello divya i liked this post, have posted few quotes from your blog ... in my post
totaly aree what u said about blog being in public domain...
another suprising discovery about iipm website its spamming search engines http://puneetworld.indiablogs.org/archives/2005/10/is_iipm_spammin_1.html
3 years 12 weeks ago, divya wrote:
Puneet: I saw them! Thanks! The spamming technique you saw, are used in several websites! So, I wudnt blame them alone!
3 years 12 weeks ago, puneet wrote:
hmmm several website ? i was aware newbie website makers indulge in that but it was suprising to see corporate website doing this...
3 years 11 weeks ago, sunny wrote:
time to teach some lessons to rougue advetisers like IIPM,NIIT,AMWAY etc so dont stop at IIPM..
i checked out iipm website and it was badly done . being a web designer i realised who cannot create a decent site cannot teach principles which even IIMs adopt tommarow !LOL
two other similar cases .
..1).amway was exposed in similar way in USA
3 years 11 weeks ago, divya wrote:
cool: LOL! I think even IIT's websites are not good at all! I think we shouldnt judge them by their presentation standards but rather by how they reacted :) I think they are quite normal in other aspects!
I do not know about Amway, but really, I think NIIT was quite intentional about what they were teaching, so they werent hiding anything. I can assure you being a quality designer takes something that shines out from the dime-a-dozen designers!
3 years 9 weeks ago, corporate Radical wrote:
well indian bloggers are at it again.one of their favourite. pulling down some1 else.....
but this time they attacked a credibility of an institute that has been their from 1973.... earlier than most of the B-Schools (few IIms included)....it has lasted for 30 years it will last another 100. so i dont think the controversy affects IIPM..... but yes it does affect the students... whom every1 seems to be so concerned about..... every1 accept the students studying at IIPM seems to be an expert on the topic. even funnier is the fact if any students defends the college he is termed as fake/fraud/chamcha.
they it was only personal opinion so how can he be sued.... let me put ot this way. if tommorow a popular blogger gives his frank opinion(read unsubstantiated) about your mother/father/country will you take lieing down..... this is my alma mater ur talking about hot do u expect me to take it silently....
im a second year iipm delhi student who has just been placed in a Korean elec. major(through IIPM
). But im worried about my juniors they feel understandably scared at the raging controversy.... but then who cares its in vogue pull some1 down yesterday it was sourav today its IIPM(until the next taget).
if anybody is genuinely interested in knowing the the truth about IIPM...visit my blog at croporateradical.blogspot.com . im also going to give a week by week account on IIPM delhis placement scenario.... so that truth can known....please feel free to visit and comment on my blog.
CR