Saving students from lewd teachers

Considering the large amount of resources that university teachers qualified to advise postgraduate students have at their disposal - such as the power to decide whether students can get research funds, whether students' graduation theses are good enough to earn them degrees and even whether students can get good job offers after graduation - there is a huge gap between teachers and students in terms of status and bargaining power.

This, however, is not the first sex scandal involving a university teacher. A few days ago, some photographs were posted on the Internet showing Wang Xiaojian, a retired associate professor of an arts college in Sichuan province, "sexually harassing" two female students. Despite that, Wang said: "I am a single old man and I have done nothing wrong."

Given the increasing number of sex scandals involving university teachers, the Ministry of Education issued a regulation on Oct 9, prohibiting teachers from indulging in such unethical behaviors as plagiarism, taking gifts or money from students and their parents, and sexually harassing students or coercing them into having sex. The regulation says violators will face punishment ranging from a warning and getting demerit points on their professional files to demotion, suspension and even jail terms depending on the severity of the case. Besides, heads of colleges and universities have been told to supervise the behaviors of teachers and ensure that they abide by professional ethics - and that they would be held accountable for guilty teachers' actions in case of lax supervision.

In this context, the latest "red lines" top educational authorities have drawn for college and university teachers can effectively deter potential violators. But Xiamen University's delayed investigation into and passive response to Wu's case from the beginning have revealed the lack of an effective mechanism in higher education institutions to deal with sexual harassment cases.

In Chinese society, victims usually feel ashamed or don't have enough courage to report "sexual harassments", especially if the perpetrator is an acquaintance. So, aside from the "red lines" drawn by the top educational authorities, college and university authorities should also take immediate measures to set up a mechanism to firmly deal with all kinds of sexual harassment cases on campuses.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily. wuyixue@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/18/2014 page5)