The decision of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) to provisionally dismiss A.S., a professor at the Faculty of Sciences sentenced to a year and a half for sexual assault on a doctoral student, has resulted in the resignation of the head of Equality of said Faculty, Gemma Garcia. The unconvincing attitude of the University, despite the seriousness of the case, would be behind the dismissal.
The professor has confirmed to this medium her resignation from a position in which she had been holding for five years, although she did not want to explain the reasons for the resignation, which took place this Tuesday. Garcia refers to the rectory to find the causes of her resignation. The teacher would have explained in a letter, to which she has had access elDiario.es, the reasons for her resignation. The alleged lack of forcefulness with which, in her opinion, the UAB would have acted in the case of sexual assault would be one of the reasons for leaving her position.
It was this week when the conviction of Professor A.S. for sexual assault on a doctoral student for two years. The sentence of the Court of Barcelona is from a few weeks ago: from the month of February. Despite the court ruling, the teacher continued to teach classes, while the university claimed to have found out about the sentence in the press. At first, the university center claimed to be “assessing precautionary measures” although specifying that there is still room for an appeal for the teacher. Hours later and before the commotion, the Autonomous University issued a statement announcing that it was removing A.S. from teaching in a precautionary manner. It suspended him “from the teaching and research functions” of the professor until “there is a final sentence”.
According to the UAB, the sentence is the result of actions initiated in 2018 by the university itself, which, through the technical advisory commission of the university’s Equality Observatory, brought the facts to the attention of the Prosecutor’s Office given that the case was “susceptible to be dealt with criminally”. As a result of this complaint and the investigation carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, at the end of 2022 a sentence was issued in which the professor was sentenced in the same terms as the current ruling.
The facts date back to 2016, when the student was preparing her doctorate with A.S. The convicted person, with the excuse of comforting the victim, would have carried out attitudes that prevented the physical space of the young woman and that made her uncomfortable. According to the court ruling, the professor became intimate with the young woman to the point of touching her private parts inside her clothes and kissing her furtively. The professor would have used his hierarchical superiority to sexually harass the young woman for two years, until in 2018 he reported the case.
At that time, from the UAB, seeing the young woman “so affected, they looked for other thesis directors and referred her to psychological treatment”, in addition to transferring the case to the Prosecutor’s Office.
The defendant asked the victim not to make anything public about what was happening, arguing that “their relationship would not be understood” and that she should leave the doctorate.
The resolution adds that the harassment also occurred during trips to congresses, in which the defendant invited the young woman to his room, to which she did not agree.
