Long-term mechanism to prevent sexual harassment in universities: Ministry

The Ministry of Education said Sunday that it would work with other departments to establish a sound long-term mechanism to prevent sexual harassment at universities and colleges, thepaper.cn reported.

Beihang University, a well-known Chinese university, announced Thursday that Chen Xiaowu was stripped of his post as executive vice-president with the university's Graduate School and his teaching certificate was also canceled.

The university said that the decision was made after an investigation conducted by the school found that "Chen did sexually harass female students."

The ministry said Sunday that it would cancel Chen's title as Changjiang Scholar, and would rescind all awards.

The ministry reiterated its zero-tolerance policy on any behavior that harms students. The ministry would investigate and never tolerate such behaviors.

In early January, a former doctoral student of Chen, Luo Qianqian, posted a weibo article accusing him of sexually harassing her and several other students.

She wrote that Chen tried to force himself on her after luring her to his sister's house more than 10 years ago. She managed to leave the house unharmed after she began crying.

Luo reached out to other victims and formed a WeChat group with them to share their experiences and collect evidence before submitting it to the university.

Xinhua contributed to the story.