Claims of sexual abuse at a top university in China led to a professor’s swift termination and police investigation, a rare response in a country where officials treat the #MeToo movement with suspicion and accusers are often censored.

A professor at the elite Renmin University identified as Wang was fired from his school and removed as a Communist Party member on July 22, a day after a PhD student accused him of sexual harassment on social media. Beijing police said they opened an investigation.

The university has “zero tolerance” for teachers’ misconduct, it said in a statement on Weibo on July 22 announcing the disciplinary action. The school said the student’s allegations are true and it will provide authorities with evidence.

The reaction is seen as a rare example of accountability in a sexual abuse case in China, where accusers face great hurdles to prove their allegations. Courts need a high degree of certainty and typically require physical evidence in sexual harassment lawsuits, according to legal experts.

“This is the most severe punishment I have seen to date,” Lao Dongyan, a law professor from Tsinghua University, wrote in a Weibo post that has been liked more than 80,000 times. “I hope this incident can be a turning point, to change the attitude toward sexual harassment in universities and even society, and to promote the establishment of a normalised anti-sexual harassment mechanism.”

China has seen several high-profile #MeToo cases play out to mixed results in recent years. A former intern at China’s state television broadcaster lost her appeal in 2022 after a court in Beijing dismissed her sexual harassment lawsuit against a host, saying there was insufficient evidence. That same year, Chinese-Canadian singer Kris Wu was sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges including rape after allegations of abuse emerged on social media.

Renmin University’s action came after the student’s allegations prompted an outcry on social media, where many expressed anger at the professor for allegedly abusing his position of authority.

In a now-deleted video, the masked student accused Wang, her PhD supervisor, of sexually harassing and molesting her since 2022. Wang demanded to have sex with her and threatened to prevent her from graduating after she declined, she said.

“All of the above reports are supported by audio recordings and chat histories, and I am willing to assume the corresponding legal responsibility,” she said in the video. She included audio tapes purportedly showing her refusing his advances and Wang reprimanding her.

The case stirred a huge public debate online, with related discussions surpassing those about US President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race as top trending topics on Weibo on Monday and Tuesday. More than 84 million people have viewed a hashtag asking if the professor could get pensions after his dismissal.

The student said she was “very grateful and proud of the quick and no-compromise attitude and efficiency” of the university in a post on Monday night.

Authorities have used censorship to closely manage discussion of sexual abuse and accountability. Zhou Xiaoxuan, the accuser in the case against the CCTV host, had her social media accounts suspended. Authorities also censored a letter calling for a probe into the case of a chained mother of eight that triggered public fury in 2022.

The Renmin University student’s original post against Wang has disappeared, although it’s unclear who deleted it. Another article lamenting how sexual harassment victims could only take their complaints to the Internet to be treated seriously has also been censored.

 - Bloomberg