The University of Madras on Thursday issued a circular, instructing students not to stay at a faculty member’s house or go on a trip with them unless special permission is given.
The circular comes in light of the case of sexual harassment of students by two professors of the Madras Christian College, Chennai. The university, reportedly, said this is a move "to give confidence to students that the University has a redressal system in place for sexual harassment complaints".
“The University campus is a place of knowledge and no act of sexual harassment of any sort will be permitted inside the campus,” the circular read. “It is declared that such an act (of calling students home) by the faculty member amounts to misconduct as per the law on Sexual Harassment. (sic) Students are directed not to stay at the faculty member’s house or tour with their guides at any cost unless special permission is taken from the university authorities,” the circular further read.
We tried reaching the Vice-Chancellor and the registrar but they were unavailable.
The MCC recap
A batch of 50 MCC students had complained in April 2019 that the two professors – R Raveen and Samuel Tennyson – had passed inappropriate comments about their clothes and had harassed them on a tour in February. The students went to the Head of the Zoology Department with their complaint but he, allegedly, dismissed the complaint saying that it was a ‘first-time offence’.
After protest by the students demanding justice, the Internal Committee (IC) of the college conducted an investigation and both professors were found guilty, only last month.
