#MeToo at Shanghai Jiaotong University: Deputy dean steps down

Xie Yungeng 谢耘耕, deputy dean of the School of Media and Design at Shanghai Jiaotong University, has been reportedly dismissed from his position after five students accused him of sexual harassment and groping.

The university hasn’t publicly announced the decision, but people close to the matter published a report on Zhihu (in Chinese) that reveals that the media school held an internal emergency meeting on April 25 to inform staff that Xie had been removed from his post.

The report also says that graduate students under Xie’s mentorship would be transferred to other professors, and that there are more women with complaints about Xie aside from the five victims who have already spoken out.

Xie is temporarily suspended from teaching, and the school administration committee will decide if the suspension will become permanent.

According to Wei Wuhui 魏武挥 (in Chinese), an instructor at the school who attended the meeting, the staff were gathered for an unexpected election of a new dean, followed by a lecture about teaching ethics. Though Xie’s name wasn’t mentioned once during the meeting, Wei was told by a school secretary in a private conversation that Xie had been under investigation after student complaints about his behavior earlier this month. Wei said that the allegations about Xie were validated, and final conclusions would be announced when the investigation was complete.

A photo Wei Wuhui posted online shows that the meeting included discussions of a few recent cases of sexual misconduct and exploitative behavior at Chinese universities, such as those with former Peking University professor Shen Yang 沈阳 and Xi’an Jiaotong University professor Zhou Yun 周筠.