BEIJING \u2014 A Chinese university has fired a well-known professor over multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, a significant step for China\u2019s fledgling #MeToo movement. <\/p>\n
Beihang University announced late Thursday that an investigation found Professor Chen Xiaowu \u201cdid sexually harass female students\u201d and would lose his post as vice president of the university\u2019s graduate school. His teaching certificate has also been canceled. <\/p>\n
Early this month, an academic living in the U.S., Luo Xixi, wrote online that, as a student many years ago, Chen lured her to his sister\u2019s home and forced himself on her. She escaped in tears. After going public, five other former students came forward with allegations of their own.<\/p>\n
The fact that Chen was stripped of his post \u2014 and that the news was covered by the Communist Party-controlled press \u2014 is a small win for the Chinese women who have spoken out in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Luo called the news an \u201cinitial victory.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the past three months we have been waiting anxiously all the time,\u201d she wrote. \u201cLuckily, this waiting and expectation have not been a letdown.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the wake of the Weinstein scandal, several Chinese women have made news by publishing allegations of sexual assault or harassment online. Their stories have been met with a mix of incredulity and anger.<\/p>\n
[China\u2019s women reveal harassment but #MeToo movement struggles for air ]<\/p>\n
The ruling Communist Party appears unsure about what to make of the movement. <\/p>\n
In the aftermath of the Weinstein news, state media first seized on the chance to criticize U.S. culture, arguing \u2014 contrary to evidence and common sense \u2014 that harassment doesn\u2019t happen in China. <\/p>\n
When cases started to emerge, authorities tried to censor some discussions, worried, perhaps that public sentiment could turn on other authority figures or officials. <\/p>\n
But Luo\u2019s case proved difficult to suppress. She was based overseas and quickly found other survivors. Together, they took their story to the university. <\/p>\n
Chinese feminists are glad to see the university take decisive action, but wonder why the university has just removed Chen from his post rather than fired him. <\/p>\n
Xiao Meili, a feminist based in Guangzhou, who has penned an open letter asking her alma mater, the Communication University of China, to come up with a plan to combat campus sexual harassment, said she was unimpressed by the result.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve stripped him of many of his [job] titles, but he didn\u2019t lose his job and can continue working at this university,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a milestone. I think it would be progress if they fired the professor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The long-term goal of China\u2019s MeToo movement, according to Xiao, should be to encourage more women to come forward. \u201cI really hope we can continue doing this, so then all those sexual harassment perpetrators will get a real punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nSophia Huang, a woman who galvanized the movement by going public with an account of an alleged sexual assault by a former supervisor, agreed that the movement has a long way to go. <\/p>\n
She is calling on Chinese universities to do more to prevent sexual misconduct and create the channels for victims to seek redress. <\/p>\n
Luna Lin in Beijing contributed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING \u2014 A Chinese university has fired a well-known professor over multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, a significant step for China\u2019s fledgling #MeToo movement. Beihang University announced late Thursday that an investigation found Professor Chen Xiaowu \u201cdid sexually harass female students\u201d and would lose his post as vice president of the university\u2019s graduate school. His teaching certificate has also been… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1182,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181\/revisions\/1182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}