University fires professor after sexual misconduct investigation

Renmin University of China has fired a professor who 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, Wang Di, alleged that her mentor, Wang Guiyuan, demanded a sexual relationship. When she refused, he allegedly harassed her for the next two years and threatened to prevent her from graduating.

Wang Di said she had audio recordings and chat logs to substantiate her allegations and was seeking legal punishment for Wang Guiyuan. In a 59-minute video posted on the Sina Weibo micro blog platform, Wang Di 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.

Wang Guiyuan 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. Wang Guiyuan 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 the relevant authorities, according to the law.

Wang Guiyuan, 65, was a professor at the university's School of Liberal Arts, and the former Party chief and vice-dean of the school. He was also a doctoral supervisor and head of the discipline of Chinese linguistics and philology, according to public records.