A Brazilian university student has become a national cause célèbre after footage demonstrating just why it's a bad idea to wear a miniskirt to lectures surfaced online.

Geisy Arruda, 20, was subjected to a torrent of abuse from a baying mob of fellow students last month at Sao Paulo's Bandeirante University, aka Uniban. So bad did things get that police finally had to escort her from the premises, wrapped in a modesty-preserving white coat, to chants of "whore":

Images of the incident promptly hit the internet, and the university decided to expel her for a "flagrant lack of respect for ethical principles, academic dignity and morality".

Cue general disbelief - unsurprising in a country where bikinis are fabricated from dental floss - and a round of chat-show appearances, including this one in which Ms Arruda gives her version of events while wearing the offending dress for the benefit of the viewing public.

The polemic today prompted Maria Paula Dallari, higher education secretary at the Ministry of Education, to ask Uniban if any of the students responsible for the abuse would also be punished.

Former tourism student Arruda, meanwhile, is reportedly considering an appeal against her expulsion. ®