Claim: The NCA Lahore has issued a ‘masturbation notice’ stating that the act, when carried out in university washrooms, is “a violation of the National College of Arts non-academic student code of conduct” and warned students of including a heavy fine in the fee next year.
Fact: The NCA has denied issuing such a notification, adding that it reserves the “right to take strict disciplinary action”.
On 2 January 2024, the Facebook page ‘MBBS Ki Baatien’ posted (archive) an image of a “MASTURBATION NOTICE” allegedly issued by the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore. It addresses the university students and reads as follows:
“Masturbation in these washrooms is a violation of the National College of Arts non-academic student code of conduct. The sewage pipes are not designed to handle semen!
Excessive amounts of semen in the pipes cause clogging, which costs the university tens of thousands of rupees to replace. This cost will be reflected in next years’ tuition fees. It’s your money
Please masturbate at home!”
Signed allegedly by NCA Acting Registrar Bushra Saeed Khan, the notice ends with the following remark, “For any questions or urgent masturbation requests, please contact: +92 336 7438305.”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check went through the NCA’s website and social media accounts and found that the university has refuted the viral notice.
In its notification — numbered NCA/17 — dated 2 January 2024, NCA Acting Registrar Bushra Saeed Khan wrote,
“This is to inform all concerns that the Notice No.NCA/EDU/2148 dated 01-01-2024 circulated on social media and put on college notice boards is FAKE.
The College reserve [sic] the right to take strict disciplinary action against those who are involved in such heinous activity as per College rules.”
The notification is available on the NCA’s Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) accounts here, here, and here (archives available here, here, and here.
Interestingly, this is not the first time such an alleged notice from a university has circulated on social media. Around the world, similar pranks targeting different universities have been observed and investigated by Reuters Fact Check — accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which Soch Fact Check is also a signatory — in 2021 and 2022. Factly debunked one pertaining to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee here in 2023.
Back in 2015, Daily Pakistan fell for the prank when it published a report (archive) about the “masturbation notice” allegedly issued by the University of Massachusetts, University of Michigan-Flint, The University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Michigan State University.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found that the post by ‘MBBS Ki Baatien’ has gained over 300 reactions so far.
Other posts carrying the false “masturbation notice” can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The “masturbation notice” has also been shared (archive) on Instagram where it has been viewed more than 50,500 times as of writing time. It was also posted here (archive) and has gained close to 10,000 likes.
Conclusion: The NCA has denied issuing such a notification, reiterating that it reserves the “right to take strict disciplinary action” against the spread of such misinformation about the institution.
Background image in cover photo: NationalCollegeofArts
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