University fires professor after sexual misconduct investigation

Renmin University of China has fired a professor who allegedly sexually harassed a doctoral student, the university announced on Monday night after concluding an investigation into allegations made public over the weekend.

On Sunday, a video surfaced online showing a doctoral candidate in literature publicly accusing her mentor of sexual harassment and coercive molestation.

The student, who identified herself as Wang Di, alleged that her mentor, a professor at the university's School of Liberal Arts, and the former Party chief and vice-dean of the school, demanded a sexual relationship.

When she refused, he allegedly harassed her for the next two years and threatened to prevent her from graduating.

Wang said she had audio recordings and chat logs to substantiate her allegations and was seeking legal punishment for the professor.

In a 59-minute video posted on the Sina Weibo micro blog platform, Wang wore a mask as she detailed the allegations of abuse and shared screenshots of messages and original audio clips as evidence.

The post has garnered more than 2 million likes, with many netizens calling for rectification of the academic environment.

The Beijing-based university said on Monday morning it established a working group on Sunday evening and conducted an overnight investigation, emphasizing its zero-tolerance policy toward any teacher's unethical misconduct.

On Monday night, the university said the investigation had confirmed the allegations were true.

The professor was found to have severely betrayed the fundamental mission of teaching and nurturing students, and gravely violated university regulations and professional ethics, the university said in a post on Weibo.

The university decided to revoke his professorship, cancel his qualification as a doctoral supervisor and terminate his teaching position.

The professor has also been expelled from the Communist Party of China. The university said it will ask the higher education administrative department to revoke his teaching credentials and will report the case to relevant authorities, according to the law.

On Monday, the Haidian District Branch of the Public Security Bureau of Beijing also announced it had initiated an investigation of the case.