Universities and polytechnics received more than a hundred complaints in a year

Over the past year, higher education institutions have received more than a hundred complaints of sexual and moral harassment, discrimination or violence, but so far only four accused have been punished.

The Lusa agency surveyed universities and polytechnics across the country about the existence of channels for reporting victims, the number and type of complaints registered, and the results.

The 19 higher education institutions that responded—eleven universities and eight polytechnics (PIs)—reported that they had received 154 complaints of sexual harassment, moral harassment, “pedagogical problems,” and incidents of discrimination.

The responses showed that so far only two institutions have sanctioned the subjects of four complaints: three teachers and one student.

All of the other 150 complaints had no consequences for the possible aggressor, with many cases still being analyzed, many others archived, and at least one story in which the alleged victim withdrew the complaint.

This week, for the first time, complaints from students had an immediate effect: the Polytechnic Institute of Porto (IPP) initiated disciplinary proceedings and preemptively suspended three teachers on suspicion of student harassment following complaints received on Tuesday.

In a conversation with Lusa, the IPP said it had received 21 more complaints and complaints through a denunciation channel created last year.

Another aggressor punitive incident occurred at the Center, where a Guarda Polytechnic student assaulted a teacher and was suspended.

Interestingly, IP da Guarda is one of three institutions that have informed Lusa that it still does not have a channel for messages. The other two are the University of the Interior of Beira (UBI) and IP Castelo Branco, both without complaint.

The vast majority of complaints come from the country’s three oldest institutions: the University of Lisbon (UL) registered 60 complaints, the University of Coimbra (UC) “36 reports” and the University of Porto (UP) 19 complaints. .

A year ago, the UL School of Law (FDUL) opened a complaint channel and received 50 complaints in 11 days, and not a single harassment case went to court.

The allegations, all anonymous, led the faculty to send the report to the prosecutor’s office, “who proceeded to archive it,” the institution explained to Luse.

However, the FDUL created the Office of Victim Support, which received ten complaints that resulted in instructors outside the institution reviewing “three investigation processes” “that culminated in their filing of an order.”

The University of Coimbra (UC) has registered “36 reports” since the platform’s inception in June 2022, with two cases of moral harassment and five cases of discrimination.

Most were shelved for lack of elements, and only two allegations of moral harassment led to prosecution, but one was shelved for “lack of behavior of this nature” and the other is “under investigation”.

In Porto, since June 2022, the university has confirmed 19 complaints and complaints, five of which are related to moral and sexual harassment, which led to the opening of investigative processes “which are still ongoing”.

Cases of complaints with ongoing processes are repeated in almost all institutions: at the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, two complaints are being analyzed, at the University of the Algarve, a complaint of moral harassment is being investigated, and at the University of the Azores, a process related to pedagogical issues.

Last December, the University of Madeira set up a whistleblower portal that received two complaints: one “was filed for lack of merit” and the other is pending, the institution added, declining to disclose details.

But there are also cases where all incoming complaints were filed, as happened at the Polytechnic Institute of Braganca (IPB).

“Over the past four years, the board has received three or four cases of student complaints of alleged sexual harassment by teachers,” IPB president Orlando Rodriguez told Lusa, adding that “the cases have been investigated and filed. place for disciplinary action.”

There is another institution that considered the complaint of moral harassment “resolved” because the complainant refused to participate in the process, the head of the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra told Lusa.

Cases of harassment at the academy are not new, as a year ago the Minister of Higher Education, Elvira Fortunato, called on schools to develop measures to prevent such situations and create accountability mechanisms.

Both professors and researchers, as well as students, have criticized the creation of channels within the institutions themselves, in the voice of unions and associations representing students, warning of the danger of victims turning away for fear of being discovered or being targeted.

Professors, researchers, and students argue that there should be a national whistleblowing channel that operates independently of universities.

The information collected by Lusa seems to show that the creation of judgment tools is not conducive to complaint, as was the case with the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria (PL).

The LP digital platform went live in February of this year, but all harassment complaints were filed earlier: two moral harassment complaints and two sexual harassment complaints, three of which have been filed and the process is “in progress”.

In addition, the University of Miño and the Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, which have reporting channels before the Minister’s appeal, ensure that they never receive any complaints.

The list of institutions without “registration” continues to include the University of Beira Interior, the University of Évora and the University of Aveiro (UA).

UA told Lusa that it has several tools to denounce situations of sexual and moral harassment, including the ability to file complaints “directly by sending an email to the rector, through the Question to the rector communication channel, or through internal denunciations, which ensures the anonymity of whistleblowers.”

The information from the institutions shows different times of action and different approaches to the same problem, which has also been criticized by the trade unions.