The sexual scandal involving two former teachers from SNSPA calls for urgent legislative measures, but taking a decision has been dragging on for more than two weeks. The reason? The responsible ministries – that of Education and that of Justice – pass their responsibility. between them and it seems that neither one really wants to take the reins.
The SNSPA scandal must change the legislation, demand the student representatives. Source: archive
The accusations brought against the sociologists Alfred Bulai and Marius Pieleanu have opened a real Pandora’s Box – sexual abuse in the Romanian school – producing a crisis of proportions in the system. A few days after the outbreak of the scandal, the Minister of Education, Ligia Deca, promised Prime Minister Ciolacu laws to regulate this scourge, to combat and sanction it. But, since then and until now, nothing has happened. And that’s because the proposals of those in Education got stuck on the table of the elders from Justice. Concretely, the Ministry of Education has proposed that anonymous notifications regarding sexual abuse be taken into account, but those from Justice invoke the impairment of the rights of the persons concerned. Other legislative proposals have been blocked in the Ministry of Justice on the grounds that they already exist, but would not be clear and effective rules of application.
The “war” between the two ministries, which have not yet agreed on the regulations, forced Prime Minister Colacu to postpone the discussion in this week’s government meeting. The Prime Minister gave an ultimatum: Education and Justice must reach a compromise, must agree and present by the end of the month a draft law to be adopted to come into force in the autumn, with the start of the new school year.
The students demand the suspension of the professors from the department
While the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Justice are still playing ping pong and passing the hot potato to each other, the students are also coming up with a series of proposals. Sergiu Covaci, vice-president of the Alliance of Student Organizations in Romania (ANOSR), stated for “Adevărul” that students demand clear, concrete and effective sanctions that actually matter. Not just verbal reprimands. “I came up with the proposal that there should be a suspension of the investigated teaching staff, between one semester and two academic years, depending on the misconduct. The teacher should be suspended from the department, not to be able to come into contact with the students during the time he is being investigated by the Ethics Commission. So, the teaching staff can remain in their position, but they only perform research activities”.
If the internal investigation proves that the teacher is innocent, he can return to the chair. But, if he is declared guilty, then it is possible to remove him from his position, the students also propose. “However, we run into the provisions of the Labor Code, which do not allow you to terminate the employment contract of an employee until you go through several stages: verbal, written reprimand… but it is aberrant, because in the case of sexual abuse, nothing will be solved with a reprimand and that’s it,” Sergiu Covaci also specified.
Therefore, the student representative believes, these legislative regulations must be considered by all the decision-makers involved: the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Justice and also the Ministry of Labour. “This removal from office, if it is not done gradually and the sanctions are not in accordance with the Labor Code, it cannot be carried out, it cannot be achieved. In court, the universities will lose the lawsuits”.
The students also ask the universities to periodically inform about what the Code of Ethics stipulates, in such a way that its regulations are known to everyone, so that there is no more excuse that they did not know, did not read, were not informed. “The presentation of these mechanisms should be done at the beginning of each semester, at the beginning of the academic year when the new generations come.”
Students demand to be represented
The students’ proposals do not stop there. Sergiu Covaci told us that whoever wants to report such facts but, for various reasons, has no way to do it, can be represented by the student organizations. “There are people who cannot start this process. Either they have certain deficiencies, or we are talking about students with special educational requirements or students who simply, when they have to report in writing, get stuck due to reliving the trauma. And then they should be able to mandate someone to do this self-notification on their behalf, including a legal entity like student organizations. The student representatives are informed and know the steps by which complaints can be made, they also know the administrative part, how to report all these things”.
Sergiu Covaci is the vice-president of the Alliance of Student Organizations from Romania. Source: Facebook
The ethics commission should self-report. What does this mean?
Then, one more extremely important aspect: self-reporting of cases of abuse to the university management. “I’ll give you an example: I, as a student, file a sexual abuse complaint against a teacher. Then the abuser finds out and accosts me, intimidates me, blackmails me. Moment in which I withdraw my complaint. Normally, if this complaint no longer exists, the Ethics Commission has nothing more to investigate. However, we ask that the investigation continue. If the facts in the file can be proven, they should continue the investigations, not stop them.”
But, from asking to receiving something, it is a long way. Because Romanian legislation does not allow many of the students’ requests. “We have to align ourselves with what the law says and allows, the labor code, the criminal code. Let’s see how we can design a functional strategic framework. Not one that is written on a piece of paper and stays there.”
Filia representative: “Let’s be inspired by the practice of universities abroad”
Adela Alexandru, an expert in equality and gender at the Filia Center, but also one of the former students of the sociologist Bulai, commented on the current situation for “Adevărul”, saying that things are more complicated than they seem at first glance, and decision-makers need time to to put things in order. On the other hand, ministries should hurry. “These are not things that can be easily achieved overnight. But, I have hope that this is the time when something can finally change. It is a critical moment we have reached and one that calls for urgent legislative action. Some joint efforts can be made, in such a way that this interminable pass from one to the other no longer exists. There should be joint work, with experts who come with complementary expertise and who can agree on the best option. And models of this kind exist in universities abroad. They can go back from there“, is the opinion of Adela Alexandru.
She also told us that the Center re-sent to the ministry a petition submitted since last year, in October “We ask the Ministry of Education to treat with the greatest seriousness the situation of abuse that can happen in universities, from gender discrimination to sexual harassment. We have sent back to the Ministry of Education our research showing that the codes of ethics are currently not in their best shape. They don’t explain sexual abuse well enough, neither in terms of definitions, nor in terms of statutes, nor in terms of specific things you can do to file a report. I sent back to the Ministry of Education the guide that I created, which is the first guide addressed to universities, which clearly explains these things”.
On August 19, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education, a new meeting will take place between Minister Ligia Deca and student representatives. “The debates will continue and we hope that in the shortest time we will have legislation that will work starting from the fall”Sergiu Covaci, vice-president of the Alliance of Student Organizations from Romania, also declared for “Adevărul”.
