A sexual harassment incident, which was unprecedented in POSTECH society, occurred on Feb. 26. The perpetrator was arrested at the scene based upon a third person’s report. POSTECH’s Undergraduate Association held a conference about the incident on Mar. 4, and decided that most membership trainings (MT) scheduled for the second week of the semester were to be cancelled. The Undergraduate Association (UA)and Female Undergraduate Association (FUA)focused on preventing secondary damage to the victim. The perpetrator was then sent for prosecution, and through three hearings, was sentenced to a two-and-a-half year prison sentence with three years’ probation. On Jul. 3, there was an announcement regarding disciplinary action on the POVIS Announcement Board, and the perpetrator was expelled from POSTECH.
Since the perpetrator was arrested shortly after the incident, POSTECH authorities were not able to examine the incident directly. Therefore, POSTECH conducted disciplinary action toward the perpetrator according to the judgement of the first trial. There were two hearings in May, and the final verdict hearing on Jun.8. Through the Student Affairs Committee on Jun. 13 and the University Administration Council on Jun. 19, the disciplinary action determined was the expulsion from POSTECH.
After the incident, a guideline for MT was made under the cooperation of UA, FUA, and POSTECH Counseling Center. Furthermore, preventive disciplines for sexual harassment, lectures of human right and sexual crimes were conducted both on-line and off-line. Professor Kim Jung-gi (POSTECH Counseling Center) emphasized that more Postechians should participate for these lectures, and eventually the point is Postechians’ attitude.