An ex-professor at a Leuven university college has been sentenced to 12 months in prison with probation for the sexual harassment of several of his students.
The man (48) stood trial on Tuesday for sexual harassment and assault while in his former position as lecturer at the Leuven campus of UCLL University of Applied Sciences in 2015 and 2016, reports Het Nieuwsblad.
For two years, he contacted several female students with a private email address to let them participate in a “new study on relationships, sports, sexuality, leisure, body, love and relationships,” he said.
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The first days, the study seemed to be a serious investigation, but it did not take long for the questions to become suggestive, such as “On a scale of 1 to 10, how horny are you?” or “What is the colour of your pubic hair?”
The students received such emails day and night, and some of them were also called into the professor’s office, and groped.
Several years after the incidents, three students started legal proceedings, and gave a testimony at the hearing on 2 June. Two of them read a letter in which they denounced what the Leuven public prosecutor called the professor's abuse of power. He had requested a prison sentence of 18 months.
The defended gave a confession, and was sentenced to 12 months in prison with probation. Additionally, he was banned from teaching for five years, has to have his multimedia checked and was also banned from making contact with the students in question.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
