Thai university announces investigation after student airs bullying claims on social media
In July, the Faculty of Engineering at Thailand’s Khon Kaen University announced it would be investigating claims of bullying after a student’s tell-all went viral on social media.
The student’s TikTok post, originally posted on 24 May, recently went viral, prompting her to make a follow-up post on the university’s Facebook group.
In the post, she goes into extensive detail about the months of bullying she had endured that eventually led her to spend an extra year in university.
Student mocked after father lost finger in an accident
The student claimed to have been bullied by nearly the whole department.
The mistreatment she had faced included being badmouthed in group chats and physical intimidation through bumping into her in the halls.
One particularly egregious example was when some of her peers began making fun of her after her father went through a traffic accident that caused him to lose one of his fingers.
Following one of her professors’ advice, the student also sought out financial assistance from the university, which she received.
Source: Facebook
However, that financial assistance soon painted a target on her back.
Text messages she shared showed that some had spread the word that she had asked for financial assistance to “refund” some of her expenses from a trip.
Ostracised by her entire department
In her Facebook post, the student also revealed that she was recently removed from the department’s group chat, which included every student in it.
The removal, she claims, stemmed from her contributing too little to a senior party the group was organising.
Although she was a part of their year, she is unable to graduate at the same time due to the harassment affecting her studies.
Despite this and seeing that the requested amount was quite steep, she still contributed THB1,000 (S$39).
This allegedly prompted the whole group to condemn her before removing her from the group chat.
Criticism online prompts concern
The student’s TikTok post currently sits at over 6.8 million views. Meanwhile, her Facebook post has over 39,000 likes and 3,500 comments.
Most of the comments offered either support for the female student or condemnation for the other students in the faculty.
One person even made a post in the group expressing concern as to whether Khon Kaen University graduates would be marked as problematic by companies when they job hunt.
The overwhelming response also prompted a reply from one student who claimed to be part of the group that bullied the female student.
The individual admitted to the collective badmouthing and strong language. They also said they were apologetic and were reflecting on their actions.
Source: Google Maps
The post promised to clarify all the allegations at a later stage.
In its statement on 13 July, the university’s Faculty of Engineering said it is aware of the situation and is investigating the case.
However, the post was met with ridicule, with many commenters alleging that the university could not even get someone to sign the statement and that it had been written using AI.
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps and Facebook.
