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Chinese University of Illinois Professor Accused of Sexual Abuse

2018-03-19 Sixth Tone SixthTone

One former student said Xu Gang forced her to perform ‘horrifying’ sex acts; another said some of his victims had left the school.


By Wang Yiwei




Two women have spoken to Sixth Tone about sexual misconduct they say they experienced at the hands of Xu Gang, an associate professor of East Asian languages, literature, and culture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) who also goes by the name Gary Xu.

Xu’s name had recently surfaced in a post on Chinese Q&A forum Zhihu about professors who were suspected or had been accused of sexually abusing female students. The last few months have seen a wave of action from Chinese students and alumni on sexual abuse by academics.


One woman who attended one of Xu’s classes at UIUC told Sixth Tone that over a year after she met the professor, he harassed her for the first time, catching her completely off guard. “I hadn’t thought to be vigilant around him,” she said. Out of concern for their privacy, both women who spoke to Sixth Tone declined to use their names. 


After the first instance, Xu forced the woman into unwanted sexual behavior that she described as “horrifying,” alternately using affectionate words and menacing threats to coerce her into obeying.


“My life was ruined during that period,” the former student recalled. “My self-esteem was really low — I felt physically dirty.” She said she had suffered both physical and psychological damage, and added that she was aware of other UIUC students who had been targeted by Xu, including one who reported him to the school in 2015. That year, Xu was removed from the university’s tenure track, though no reason was given.


In an open letter to the media in 2015, the student who reported Xu wrote that Xu had had sexual relationships with several other female students. In her case, she said, Xu had been violent, often beating her. “Professors like these are absolute tyrants,” she wrote.


Xu Gang poses for a photo. From Weibo


On March 10, Wang Ao, an assistant professor at Wesleyan University, authored a lengthy post on social network Douban detailing sexual harassment cases he had encountered through his own research. At the time, he did not mention anyone by name. The Douban post was later deleted, though copies can be found on microblog platform Weibo.


Later, however, Wang called out Xu in a post on Q&A platform Zhihu. When he had been an undergraduate himself, Wang wrote in the initial post on Douban, a female classmate had told him about how a professor — identified in the Zhihu post as Xu — had forced himself on her. Since then, he had met Xu in person and heard similar reports about him from others.


Wang appealed to Xu’s victims to come forward and provide evidence to a team of volunteers in North America who plan to take legal action.


Chinese netizens have overwhelmingly praised Wang and condemned Xu. An artist declared Thursday that he will no longer participate in an art exhibition in Shenzhen for which Xu was the head curator. The same day, the venue organizing the event said that Xu was no longer affiliated with the exhibition. Sixth Tone’s calls to the venue went unanswered on Friday.


Xu had not responded to Sixth Tone’s multiple interview requests by time of publication. In a long message posted to his WeChat Moments social feed, he refuted Wang’s allegations, saying he has never used improper language or made improper contact with students, or sent messages that were anything but professional in nature.


Another of Xu’s accusers, however, told Sixth Tone that she had heard multiple reports of improper words and actions, from Xu kissing young women on the cheek to remarking on the physical appearance of female applicants for degree programs. When she was his student, she said, Xu would frequently become aggressive when other students contradicted him, even threatening to keep them from graduating.


“Xu takes a different approach with each victim,” she said. “It’s like he designed a personalized package for each of us.” The woman further alleged that several female students had quit school because of Xu.


There are nearly 6,000 Chinese students at UIUC — the most among any U.S. university. By Friday afternoon, Xu’s faculty profile page was no longer accessible, though he remains listed as an “affiliate” in the College of Media. The college did not respond to Sixth Tone’s request for comment. In the bio on his Weibo account, Xu describes himself as a “tenured professor at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.”


While the majority of Chinese netizens’ outrage has fallen squarely on Xu, some has also targeted the university for not being more proactive in protecting its students.


“The school should have posted a notice to warn us,” said the student who claims Xu sexually abused her. “Otherwise, people like him will sneak into another school or another field and do the same thing. The university mishandled this horrible case, and I see it as an act of betrayal.”


Editor: David Paulk.


(Header image: The Image Bank/VCG)


You may also want to read: 

The #MeToo Campaign Spreading Across China's College Campuses

University Fires Teacher Who Traded Grades for Sex

The Campus Harassment Case That Broke the Chinese Internet

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