The professor at the Faculty of Communication and International Relations of the Ramon Llull University (URL) separated from teaching after several students denounced him for harassment, has initiated legal proceedings against the Blanquerna Foundation “for null dismissal and violation of their fundamental rights “.
The professor, who joined Blanquerna in the mid-nineties, has published a statement in which he assures that he will challenge a decision that he considers “illegal” and denounces that his fundamental rights have been violated.
“In the internal procedure opened by the FCRI-Blanquerna (URL), the dismissed person did not have a legitimate or dignified defense within the Investigation Commission”, since, according to the complaint, they only summoned him on a single occasion, with a few hours in advance, and required him to immediately answer a list of questions without knowing the content of the complaints”.
He affirms that the URL has denied him knowing the content of the complaints that he requested in writing from the faculty, “always preserving the identity of the students presumably affected.”
It also highlights that, “in the burofax that notifies the dismissal, there is no reason or offense committed that makes any reference to an alleged “sexual harassment” and therefore, the reasons for the dismissal do not coincide with what the URL has assured in the Internal communications delivered to the media.
On the other hand, the professor flatly denies that he was suspended from employment and salary for three months last September 2022, as sources from the faculty reported that it had happened as a sanction imposed by the university after receiving the first of the complaints of harassment.
According to the professor’s statement, “by mutual agreement with the dean of the Faculty of Advertising and International Relations, Josep Lluís Micó”, he accepted “a sick leave for personal and emotional reasons linked, among other circumstances, to the trauma of having suffered a series of unfounded accusations against him at the beginning of the 2022-2023 academic year”.
“This period of leave was regulated and accepted from Blanquerna, and of his own accord he returned to teaching normally during the month of January in his planning and February already in the classroom,” the teacher said in a statement.
The professor points out that “neither the Faculty of Advertising and International Relations, nor the Blanquerna Foundation, nor any student, have resorted to police or legal instances.”
