Sexual harassment at China’s elite Nanjing University in survey spotlight
- Three-quarters of respondents aware of on-campus incidents and 23 per cent who experienced abuse claim teachers were perpetrators
Sexual harassment at China’s elite Nanjing University is in the spotlight with a survey finding three-quarters of respondents were aware of incidents that had occurred on campus, and 12.5 per cent saying they had personally experienced it.
According to the extensive survey, released on Saturday by a group of students and alumni from the university, 16 per cent of female respondents had experienced sexual harassment, while 23 per cent claimed the perpetrators were university staff.
One-third of the perpetrators were alleged to be fellow students, while another third were said to be strangers. Teaching staff in the literature and business faculties were said to be involved in a notably high number of incidents.
One female respondent said a professor had locked her with him in a soundproof room, only letting her go when she said her boyfriend was waiting nearby. Other incidents included being pestered for dates and being spied on by peeping Toms.
According to the survey, only 30 per cent of sexual harassment cases were handled by the university administration in a satisfactory way. Other respondents said they had been ignored, told to keep quiet or advised to be “on guard”.