TORONTO – Hundreds are expressing their views online and on social media regarding claims by a former McGill University student that he was the victim of repeated harassment and what he calls a death threat on the school’s campus last fall.
In an interview with Global News, Amr El-Orabi said he moved to Montreal last May to get his Master’s degree in Natural Resource Science at McGill University.
A few months into the program, the 28-year-old student from Cairo said he began to feel harassed and that his supervising professor, Gary Dunphy, was allegedly responsible for the abuse.
READ MORE: Alleged death threat drives McGill student back to Egypt
Calls made to Dunphy by Global News regarding the incident were not returned.
Reaction to the story has garnered hundreds of comments and views, on Globalnews.ca and on Reddit, a social news and entertainment website where users can submit content.
From heyyou1234: “He may have been the source of trouble, but the prof could have been as well. Amr says that he had to endure racist and homophobic comments. That’s unnacceptable IMO and can see how that could lead to ‘cyber-stalking’ (although unjustifiable).”
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El-Orabi said he recorded a conversation between him and professor Dunphy that ended with what he calls a death threat, however many users on social media question the context of the recording.
You can listen to the SoundCloud recording below.
“You should listen to the actual recording at the bottom of the article. I think this guy probably created this situation for himself, but I don’t have all the details…” wrote Reddit user crocodoyle.
Reddit user 35555555 wrote: “We don’t know the context on the recording. Maybe the student ruined an experiment or did something really bad in the lab and that pissed off the professor enough to say ‘Get the f*** out of my lab’ etc. The report was kinda short, didn’t say enough details about the incident so it’s easy to be fooled. I’m not saying the teacher was right to say those things but it’s best to know the context.”
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“What do you think a real death threat sounds like? No, it doesn’t sound like a formal declaration that he intends to effect the student’s death, but it’s the first thing that came to mind in response to the question,” wrote HurlyBurlesque.
Global News reader Aaminah Abdulqadir wrote the following:
From john: “If you listen to the professor you can clearly understand that this student has been harassing the professor with online pictures and a smear campaign. If Amr was so innocent why did he leave the country and not go to the police.”
– With files from Anne Leclair, Global News
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