A student has come forward with allegations against a Shanghai University of Finance and Economics associate professor
By Yuan Ye
The Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, one of China’s top-ranking economics and business schools, said Friday night it is investigating sexual harassment allegations against one of its teachers amid an outcry from Chinese netizens.
On Friday, a female master’s student at the school had come forward accusing Qian Fengsheng, an associate professor at the university’s School of Accountancy, of sexually harassing her both physically and through text messages.
Aria, a pseudonym used by the alleged victim, told Sixth Tone that she was sexually assaulted by Qian after a class on the night of November 16, which had left her mentally distressed and eventually being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Prior to the incident, Aria said that Qian had constantly sent her “suggestive” text messages on the social messaging app WeChat. In an article first published on WeChat, Aria stated that she had been afraid of offending the professor and failed to openly refute him.
“Thinking now of what happened, I feel very sad, and I hate myself for being too weak,” said Aria in the lengthy article containing her personal statement.
With the combined factors of frequently toxic student-teacher dynamics and inefficient reporting mechanisms, sexual harassment is a major yet unresolved issue on China’s college campuses. More than one-third of the country’s university students have experienced sexual harassment, according to a September 2016 study that surveyed almost 18,000 students, both female and male. In the meantime, students and survivors have tried to break the long-standing culture of silence while pushing to raise awareness of the issue.
Prompted by a flurry of high-profile allegations against academics in 2018, China’s Ministry of Education had promised to issue a “long-acting” mechanism last November to prevent campus sexual harassment and reiterated its commitment in late September.
By Saturday afternoon, the Shanghai university’s response to Aria’s allegations on microblogging site Weibo had received more than 13,000 comments and 5,000 reposts, with many calling for the school to “deal with the issue seriously” and “protect the victim.” On China’s Quora-like platform Zhihu, many netizens also voiced support for the student, while others accused Qian of being a “habitual offender” who has been known for sexual misconduct and has been sexually harassing female students for over ten years.
But Aria told Sixth Tone that Qian’s history of misconduct might be even longer. After speaking out on social media, many other victims and survivors have come to her with similar and even worse allegations against the professor, with some bearing memories dating back 20 years, said Aria.
“We will collect all the evidence and file a civil suit against him. At the same time, we will ask the school to give us a response — after all the reporting and the complaints spanning back about 20 years, why is he still there and without any punishment?” said Aria.
Sixth Tone’s phone calls to Qian’s office and personal cellphone went unanswered by time of publication.
Editor: Daniel Wilkinson.
(Image: E+/VCG)
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