Chinese university says professor fired after sex accusations made public

Southwest University says tutor was fired for ‘an improper relationship’ with the student
Woman says she endured three years of humiliation to complete her studies

Gender

Holly Chik

Published: 8:09pm, 26 Jan 2023

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Southwest University in Chongqing on Wednesday said it had fired a professor after it investigated accusations by a student that the academic had coerced her into “an improper relationship”.

A statement on the university’s Weibo social media account said it had launched an investigation after the PhD student filed a complaint about her tutor – law professor Zhao Ming – to the school in September.

Zhao Ming has been dismissed from Southwest University, according to a statement. Photo: Weibo

“Zhao had an improper relationship with the student, reflecting a serious problem in teacher morality,” the university said in the statement.

The university said it had disqualified Zhao as a postgraduate tutor, removed him from the teaching position, demoted him, and recommended to authorities that his teaching licence be revoked. The student was informed of Zhao’s punishment on December 8, the university said.

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The statement was issued after the student went public with her demand for an investigation into Zhao’s misconduct and his punishment on Weibo on Saturday. She also posted screenshots of chats, including some that included sexually explicit content, between her and the 56-year-old.

“Zhao coerced me into maintaining an improper relationship with him for three years in his position as a tutor,” she said on Weibo.

“He asked me to be on call at any hour or he would not provide guidance on my studies. I must obey all his arrangements or he will delete or block me [on the chat app WeChat].

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“I endured the humiliation for three years so that I could complete my studies,” she said.

“Although the school acknowledged that I am a victim of teacher immorality, neither Zhao Ming nor the school took the initiative to communicate with me on reparations, compensation and managing the suffering since I reported to the school in September.”

The woman said she had asked the education ministry and the university to investigate and punish Zhao’s abuse of power and grant her the doctoral degree, which she said the school had rejected for “unreasonable reasons”.

The university confirmed that it has not granted the student the degree, saying that her research results had not met the doctoral requirements.

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The case echoes similar incidents of impropriety in China in which professors lost their jobs over sexual misconduct.

In 2020, a professor at Sun Yat-sen University in southern China was fired amid claims that he solicited three women – including at least one student – during a 10-minute break in an online class.

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In 2019, Qian Fengsheng, a former associate professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, was sacked over allegations that he locked one of his students in his car and sexually assaulted her.

Feng Renjie, a former mathematics academic at Peking University, was fired in 2019 for dating multiple women, some of whom were his students, at the same time.