05/22/2024
The letter in which the astronomy professor of the University of AntioquiaLauren Flor Torres, narrated the alleged harassment and harassment that she suffered a year ago by a student of that career, putting the persistence of gender-based violence in the institution and a call to expedite the attention to complaints, strengthen protocols to provide guarantees to victims and have more forceful prevention actions.
On May 21, The teacher published a five-page document in which she narrated the anguish, helplessness and constant fear with which she lives due to the risks she runs and which she has supported with different evidence and testimonies from those who have seen the harassment. or claim to have also been victims of the same student.
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“I have tried to motivate many other women to enter the race, but how calmly do I do it if there is going to be such a terrifying problem for their safety and integrity,” said the teacher. According to her story, It all started with attacks from the man on social networks, focused on detracting from his professional work and academic achievements. —Among other things, she is a doctor in astrophysics and a science communicator. Initially, colleagues who tried to defend her ended up like her, harassed or denigrated at work.
Blocking the account on networks was not the solution. On the contrary, the violence escalated and reached the physical spaces in which she interacted: classrooms, hallways, offices and events in places other than the university, even in Bogotá. The teacher claims that she has gone to those places to record her and take photos of her and her students, which she then published with insulting comments.
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In fact, he began to refer to her with profane words, comments with misogynistic overtones, and threats that have transcended to some of her colleagues and students who have supported her with actions as protective—but in some ways outrageous—as accompanying her to the school parking lot. university, because walking alone is a risk; That is, she cannot move calmly or safely in the place where she spends a large part of her days and where she has clearly demonstrated that she built with effort a career that seems to be the focus of the man’s attacks.
Four months ago, Lauren filed a complaint with the Disciplinary Affairs Unit (UAD), in Team 3 which, as explained by the vice-rector general of the U. of A., Elmer Gaviria Rivera, is exclusively in charge of addressing complaints of gender-based violence. Lauren stated that just a couple of days ago she was notified that a preliminary investigation into her case had been opened, which could take up to 18 months to be resolved.
Marcela Ochoa Galeano, director of University Welfare, said that by law they can take this time while procedures are completed, such as the collection of evidence and free statements from the parties, but that if things happen they can have a response much sooner.
The most surprising thing here is that in another disciplinary matters team, the alleged aggressor filed a complaint against Lauren on April 9 for alleged slander and discrimination, and less than a month later, the UAD opened a disciplinary investigation against her.
The vice chancellor said that they have accompanied Lauren with the disciplinary complaint and the complaint in Prosecutor’s Office, under the processes that establish the same current protocols. Among some protection actions, guarantees have been provided so that he can carry out his activities temporarily from home and, thus, not have to face or see the alleged aggressor. The criticism has not been long in coming because it should not be the victim who is deprived of going to campus.
Ochoa Galeano clarified that The student was initially prohibited from enrolling in courses or academic spaces led by Lauren, but was later offered teleworking to protect her, because “what was continued to be observed was that this person continued to violate the teacher.”
The truth is that this fact has caused at least indignation and in the hallways of the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, where Lauren belongs, the walls, doors and even the ceilings are full of posters and banners with multiple complaints about other cases. of harassment that have been reported and that, several sources assured, have had no solution or progress after being reported to the disciplinary bodies of the U.
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This is not an isolated case
The students have had several assemblies in which the cases are spoken out loud, some with the names of the alleged aggressors, among whom teachers are also mentioned. AND Reports of gender-based violence resurfaced, including sexual harassment, with the common denominator that there is little progress and the alleged perpetrators continue to walk through the corridors or attend classrooms as if nothing had happened.
This medium knew other testimonies. One of them is that of an undergraduate student, who asked to protect her identity, that she has had to continue seeing a classmate whom she accuses of sexual harassment and even of having tried to force her way into her own home in a chance. When the situation became unsustainable, the young woman presented the complaint in a multi-state assembly and later They activated the purple route, which provides care and support to victims of these events, and Team 3 took over the investigation.
The obstacles to justice being done in her case have been more than the real progress and the student claimed to feel revictimized and live with psychological and even academic consequences, since He had to sacrifice his attendance at a class just because the alleged attacker enrolled in it. And he continues to fear that the same thing will happen next semester. “I have been very affected by this situation, my process has been very hindered and the options they have given me have been re-victimizing,” said the student.
His free testimony in the disciplinary process and that of at least six witnesses who confirm the harassment have not had the expected effect. Your partner is about to graduate, so the sanction that may be applied is minimal compared to what it would be if it were given while he was still a university student.
A month ago, the victim sent an email to the Dean and Vice-Dean of Exact Sciences and the Violet Team to request guarantees in her process, but this is the time when they have not even responded. And then she must live with the fear of continuing to sacrifice her learning at the expense of not meeting her harasser in the institution.
The other case, which many students talk about in the hallways, is that of a graduate student who was on an academic outing with a faculty professor, who allegedly sexually assaulted her. Nine months have passed since the incident, which was also reported to the UAD, but there has been no progress and the alleged sexual abuser is still in the institution.
“I lost everything, peace, tranquility, the desire to study, the desire to do science, the desire to live, and today I break the silence, today I recover my voice and raise it so that no one has to go through what I “I passed,” the victim wrote on April 19.
And, as if that were not enough, the case of another undergraduate teacher who is burdened not with one, nor two, nor three, but with at least 20 allegations of sexual harassment. Initially, according to reports, the university imposed a measure on him to teach virtual classes, but a few weeks ago he returned to in-person classes, which has caused a wave of indignation.
The names of the two professors abound in the posters they have posted in protest in recent days in almost eight blocks of the university, including the administrative one.
Given this, The vice chancellor noted that at the U. of A. cases of harassment and gender-based violence are not increasing, but rather the existing protocols allow for more complaints and reports. This has led to the decision to strengthen teams like 3 with more people, to “try to provide an early and effective response to these complaints and the process that must be carried out.”
From 2019, when the current protocol was launched, until December 31, 2023, 508 cases of gender-based violence were recorded. So far in 2024, another 100 have been treated. In this regard, the vice-rector clarified that these cases include both those that occur within the university or in the exercise of its mission, as well as those that occur in external spaces, such as homes.
For his part, José David Ruiz, representative of the professors in the Faculty Gender Committee and member of the Gender Commission of the University Professors’ Assembly, He assured that he has accompanied several victims of these events, including the graduate student who suffered the sexual assault and Lauren, whose harasser he himself has been a victim for defending her.
In his opinion, the moment that the faculty, and the university in general, is experiencing, requires urgent attention in the face of events such as Lauren’s, which They reveal a latent risk that she or someone in her circle will suffer physical or other type of aggression.
But in addition, what they are revealing with the protests are the symptom that this is a problem that implies more forceful actions, since they believe that the institutional care measures are insufficient given the seriousness of the events, despite the good intentions and will to listen to them and do something. “There are many cases that I have learned about that do not have a complaint. “Many women are afraid to report,” he added.
Yesterday, the teacher filed a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office against Lauren’s alleged harasser, who already registers other criminal proceedings against him as evidenced on the Judicial Branch page. And other cases are also in the hands of the authorities. For now, in the Faculty of Exact Sciences they will continue to demand forceful institutional actions and pressure so that the sanctions arrive in time and the silence of other teachers and administrative staff, who they describe as “complicit,” ends.
While the aggressors continue to hide behind lawsuits for defamation, damage to good name, discrimination or violation of the right to work, students, professors and other members of the university will continue to raise their voices so that the cases do not go unpunished.
The U. of A. has had a protocol for these cases since 2019
The route established for these cases at the university includes two components. The first is comprehensive care, which offers psycholegal advice from pairs of psychologists and lawyers specializing in a gender approach. In this first step, the necessary routes are activated, such as filing a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office, receiving special psychosocial care or another type of measure, such as entering a temporary foster home.
The route includes technical representation of victims in criminal proceedings and in disciplinary proceedings, lawyers or students from the U’s legal office handling the proceedings. The second component of the route is investigation and punishment, when the alleged aggressor is part of the university community, which is what is referred to the UAD.
