Chinese university strips dean of duties amid sexual misconduct investigation
- College takes action after allegations surface online about academic’s relationship with colleague and student
A Beijing university has stripped a faculty dean of his titles and relieved him of his duties after claims surfaced online that he sexually abused a woman colleague and harassed students.
Dai Songyuan, 52, dean of North China Electric Power University’s school of renewable energy, was relieved of his duties and stripped of the position on March 20, the university said in a statement on Thursday.
Dai was also no longer deputy secretary of the school’s Communist Party committee, it said.
“The university party committee is highly focused on the recent online media reports and complaints filed about the faculty dean surnamed Dai at our school,” the university said.
“This is being treated as a serious matter.”
It said the discipline watchdog of the university’s party branch was investigating the matter.
“Relevant offences continue to be investigated by the discipline inspection commission,” the statement said.
Chinese universities urged to do more to fight sexual harassment in wake of #MeToo cases
The investigation was launched after an anonymous internet user uploaded screenshots on March 10 of a conversation purportedly between Dai and an unnamed woman colleague in which she begs him to end their relationship and accuses him of holding her career hostage.
The posts have since been removed but not before a number of other screenshots of WeChat messages allegedly between Dai and a student were shared.
In one conversation, Dai purportedly asks the recipient to go to a hotel with him. In others, he allegedly sends lewd photos.
The posts sparked an uproar online, with many accusing the school of being too slow to respond and for trying to cover up the issue online.
“I hope the school treats this seriously. Don’t do things like remove the trending topic [from Weibo] which insult the integrity of the institution. Don’t let your students down!” a Beijing user wrote, referring to the disappearance of trending topics from Weibo’s ranking of most talked about subjects.
The #MeToo movement makes a comeback in China but faces hurdles
A number of high-profile allegations of sexual misconduct have emerged in China since the rise of the #MeToo movement. In January 2018, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics professor Chen Xiaowu was fired and stripped of his academic honours after a former student accused him of sexual assault, a case seen as the first victory of the movement in China.
Since then, CCTV host Zhu Jun, Buddhist leader Xuecheng, media commentator Zhang Wen and many others have been accused of sexual misconduct.
