Chinese professor sacked as friends of suicide victim demand apology 20 years after alleged rape

Gao Yan was 21 and a star student at China』s Peking University whenshe took her own life in 1998. Twenty years on from her death, herfriends are demanding an apology from the professor they say rapedher.

A Chinese scholar accused of raping a female student more than 20years ago has been sacked by two universities, making him thesecond eminent academic this year to lose his job amid allegationsof historical sexual abuse.

Shen Yang, 62, had been employed on a part-time basis byShanghai Normal University, but the institution on Saturday issueda statement saying it had terminated his contract.

The university made no reference to the rape allegation, butsaid it had been made aware of the fact that Shen had been given ademerit for 「ethical misconduct」 two decades ago following aninvestigation by his then employer, Peking University, into sexualharassment charges.

The statement came after Peking University, where Shen workeduntil 2012, announced on Friday that the professor had been given amajor demerit in 1998 after being accused of having sexualrelations with student Gao Yan.

Gao, who was a star pupil at the prestigious seat of learning,committed suicide in 1998 at the age of 21.

Her friends have long campaigned for justice, claiming she wasraped by Shen on multiple occasions over a two-year period beforetaking her life. On Thursday, which marked the annual Ching Ming,or tomb-sweeping, festival, Gao』s supporters demanded Shenapologise for his alleged actions.

In an interview with The Beijing News on Friday, Shen describedthe accusations as 「malicious defamation」.

His other employer, Nanjing University』s liberal arts school,said on Saturday it had asked Shen to resign after finding outabout the demerit.

The school』s administrative department said in a statement itwas unaware he had received such a punishment when he was hired in2012.

「Online public opinion [about the incident] has already severelyaffected [the school』s] normal teaching order and academicreputation,」 the statement said. 「Shen Yang is no longer suitableto work [here].」

The comments made by Gao』s friends on Thursday dominated socialmedia discussions, with internet users expressing not only anger atthe alleged events of the late 1990s, but also at Peking Universityfor its perceived failure to properly deal with the matter.

Gao』s parents complained to the university about the allegedsexual assault in 1998, and it responded by conducting aninvestigation. However, while it concluded that Shen had engaged ina sexual relationship with Gao and issued him with a demerit, itdid not terminate his employment contract.

Shen is the second leading Chinese scholar to be toppled thisyear amid a sex scandal. In January, Chen Xiaowu was sacked byBeihang University after allegations of sexual misconduct were madeagainst him by multiple women.

Many of them spoke out via an online platform set up by HuangXueqin, a journalist and victim of sexual harassment whose workhelped to promote the #MeToo movement in China.

Although it initially struggled to gain traction in the country,the hashtag campaign, known as #Woyeshi in Mandarin, has enjoyedhuge success in enabling people around the world to speak outagainst sexual and domestic violence, and gender discrimination inthe workplace and on university campuses.

Both Chen and Shen had previously been selected by China』seducation ministry for the Cheung Kong Scholars Programme, which isone of the nation』s highest academic honours.