I was sacked for more than just my sexual orientation: Prof Ashley Tellis

As an out gay man, I have faced harassment from the day I came back from my PhD and began teaching. At St Stephen’s College, Delhi University, I was harassed by students who were egged on by teachers. I was living on campus. They stuck porn on my door, scrawled penises on my door and homophobically abused me in my absence, all with teachers’ approval.

In Kirorimal College, homophobic abuse was scrawled on my letters in the staffroom (clearly by colleagues), abuse scrawled on the blackboards of classes I entered to teach in, I co-ran a gender group which was mocked and reviled.

It was not always about homophobia. In Kirorimal College, Delhi University, a false sexual harassment complaint was filed against me by a female student (who was guaranteed a seat in her exam if she did so) to trivialise the whole sexual harassment policy which was being put in place in Delhi University at that time.

In Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University, the fascist Head of Department at that point wanted me out and kicked me out despite hundreds of students protesting.

In IIT Hyderabad, I was contesting the malpractices and corruption of the Director, and he sacked me within the contract period. The Times of India journalist did a gay activist spin on it. I had asked her to wait till the results of the RTI I had filed came in. She did not. The juice of a gay professor being sacked for being gay was too exciting to resist.

In the current, St Joseph’s case, too, my gayness is not really the issue, though every journalist wants to say that. And The Hindu article, and perhaps many other articles, have done their gay professor angle to garner eyeballs. While all religious institutions are homophobic and the St Joseph’s institutions in Bengaluru are no exception (I was denied a job at St Joseph’s College of Commerce because I am gay), the issue is apparently, as the Principal reassures the media just my “personal opinions”. And the fact that these opinions have “very much disturbed students (sic)”.

Now what might these personal opinions be? One has to speculate as the Holy Fathers are being tight-lipped about it. Is it the fact that I discuss gender and sexuality in class? Is it the fact that I discuss contentious and controversial issues in class ranging from tribal rights to child sexual abuse, from the state of Bangaluru’s lakes to sex work? I discuss all of these issues because my job is to teach argumentation and controversion in a large range of General English classes. Or is it the fact that many of my students have discussed the draconian rules in college that stifle them? I have discussed those too. We might never know.

I see the role of the teacher as the generator of discussions. Some students might well be disturbed. Does that warrant throwing out a teacher? Is this the way to throw out a teacher? For voicing opinions? Is this the meaning of democracy?

COLLEGE SPEAKS

In a press statement regarding the termination of Professor Ashley Tellis, St Joseph’s College, Bengaluru said: “Prof Ashley Tellis was appointed on a temporary six-month contract in November 2016. He had clearly stated his orientation in his application and at the interview — the college deemed this to be his personal choice. Later, while we appreciated his intellectual abilities and his scholarship, we were pained to note that he seemed to pay no heed to the sensitivities of undergraduate students from heterogeneous backgrounds. After receiving several complaints from students and their parents about Prof Tellis having crossed the line repeatedly in his interaction and comments, the management decided that it would be best to terminate his services.”

The writer Prof Ashley Tellis​ is an academician and gay rights activist.