Geisy Arruda, Brazil Student, Expelled After Wearing Short Dress (VIDEO)

(AP) SAO PAULO — A Brazilian university has expelled a woman who was heckled by hundreds of fellow students for wearing a short, pink dress to class – publicly accusing her Sunday of immorality.

The private Bandeirante University in Sao Bernardo do Campo, outside Sao Paulo, said 20-year-old Geisy Arruda disrespected "ethical principles, academic dignity and morality."

Bandeirante University published newspaper advertisements Sunday accusing Arruda of attending class with "inadequate clothing" and having a provocative attitude that was "incompatible with the university environment."

Arruda made headlines after the Oct. 22 incident, in which she had to be escorted away by police after wearing the mini-dress to class. She put on a professor's white coat and left amid a hail of insults and curses.

In the ad, titled "Educational Responsibility," the college said it had warned Arruda to change her behavior and decided to expel her after talking to students, staff and Arruda herself. It accused her of posing for pictures and provoking other students.

The university said it was also temporarily suspending some of the students who were seen heckling Arruda in a video of the incident that made the rounds on Youtube. It did not say how many were being suspended or how long they would be kept from attending classes.

Brazil's national student union released a statement on Sunday saying it was against the university's decision to expel Arruda, and Brazil's top official for women's policy, Nilcea Freire, told the official Agencia Brasil news service that the decision showed "intolerance and discrimination."

Although Brazil is known for its skimpy attire, especially in beach cities, most college students dress more modestly on campus – commonly in jeans and T-shirts. Some students had complained that Arruda seemed out of place in her revealing clothes, Brazilian media reported.

Comments

[rodrigo72]

01:12 PM on 11/30/2009

President of Lawyers of Brazil claims that the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil to support impeachment of the governor of the capital.

Lawyers and bishops. What can be worse than that?

[rodrigo72]

12:08 PM on 11/30/2009

Enthusiastically I even liked the failure of Brazil. Brazil is not and against Iran's nuclear program Brazil is not favorable to Iran's nuclear program

Brazil is neutral and does not judge. This means that everything is permitted. Nothing else is sin in Brazil. Finally we are a free country. If the Government can do it anyone can do anything.

An atomic bomb can kill thousands of people. Think of a nuclear bomb to a terrorist?

What can be worse than that? Nothing! The illusion of Brazil as a country of peace is over. I am free of my last illusion, I am free.

Brazil has washed his hands like Pontius Pilate did.

[rodrigo72]

12:07 PM on 11/30/2009

The Real Brazil:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B6KGqtJyDI

[rodrigo72]

11:35 AM on 11/30/2009

The Truth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocATrPrzNeg

[rodrigo72]

11:15 AM on 11/30/2009

Understand Sex Tourism in Brazil. Regrettable, but true! We explain in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocATrPrzNeg

Appears to be fiction, but may not be.

[rodrigo72]

11:13 AM on 11/30/2009

The sex trade: the dark side of tourism in Brazil:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocATrPrzNeg

Regrettable, but true!

Appears to be fiction, but may not be.

[Poorsarah]

09:11 PM on 11/12/2009

She looks very fetching in her dress...nice legs!

[Eagleman]

03:41 PM on 11/12/2009

I have lived in Brazil

It is a very male dominated society. Women do not have lead roles. They are either assistants or receptionist.

Occasionally I have spotted few female engineers and supervisors who are more of a token presence.

[leopu]

03:56 PM on 11/12/2009

I think you are right, depending on the region you lived.
But don't forget there is a high probability of having a female president - there are three possible choices.
In certain sectors - such as Nutrition and Nursing, all the best professionals are women.
If you talk about engineering, that's wordlwide - even in England and Sweden, were I lived and currently live.
I am a Brazilian by the way.

[leopu]

03:13 PM on 11/12/2009

Hi all,
As a brazilian (male) I can say a few things of what really happened on that day...
Obvisouly , she usually dresses like that and did that on different days at the university. On top of that it was a friday and many students go to university and later on go partying (straight after classes), hence her "seductive" clothing. Most of the guys there just wanted to create a fuss, take pictures to show to other guys and possibly pretend that dated her. In a blink of an eye it escalated to offensive behaviour. I have not seen brazilian girls use that kind of "seductive" clothing at university, in this way she "broke" a social rule. But nothing justifies the behaviour of the other students, Brazil is a free country and they should be legally liable for that. I do believe many of them created a fuss just to go partying earlier. Someone on this blog said brazilians (all the 190 Million) became 100% stupid. Ok...can we only say then that 300 million americans are violent and bloodthirst as per the Columbine shootings? Fair enough....

[Chelsea-Lyn Rudder]

11:50 AM on 11/12/2009

This young woman was discriminated against. Check out my HuffPo blog on this topic.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chelsealyn-rudder/sexism-masquerades-behind_b_352277.html

[Pem3]

03:16 AM on 11/12/2009

Well if they have a dress code and she did not conform to it then she broke the rules not much more to say about it.

[elemental775]

02:42 AM on 11/12/2009

She can come over to my house and I will be happy to home school her.

[Wonderwheel]

10:00 PM on 11/11/2009

I think the key to understanding this story is that it occured at a private university of the kind where the ruling elites send their children. Just read the claim of "morality" as dressing like the upper class. This is a story about class warfare and the upper class saying that this woman was dressing too low class.

[GorillaThriller]

07:51 PM on 11/11/2009

I'm confused why people at the university believe it's immoral for her to wear such a dress when nudity is acceptable at the beach. I can understand that they want a professional atmosphere but I don't understand where morality comes into play. The human body can only be seen outside?

[HadBetterDays]

11:25 PM on 11/11/2009

"nudity is accepted at the beach" case closed, you answered your own question. It's a private school and they have a right to enfore dress code.

[Texas Aggie]

06:53 PM on 11/11/2009

I saw that this was a private university and wondered if it were fundamentalist Catholic, but it's web page says it has no religious affiliation. My wife suggested that the guys abusing her were threatened either because their girl friends might decide to dress like her or because she was in some predominantly male course of study. I don't know what to think, but when I lived for a year in Brazil (Mato Grosso), what she was wearing wouldn't have been noticed.