Just as international partners are beginning to question Dongguk University's safety record, a new sexual violence scandal has erupted on campus, exposing the exact mechanisms of institutional delay and cover-up we have documented for months.

On November 24, 2025, Maeil Business News reported that a professor in the Department of Cultural Heritage (referred to as "Professor F") has been accused of repeated sexual harassment and abuse of power.¹ The allegations, confirmed by the university's own Human Rights Center in June, were met with four months of administrative silence by the Board of Directors, forcing the Student Council to launch a public protest campaign.

The Allegations: "I Want to Drink With You"

According to the Student Council's public statement and media reports, Professor F engaged in a pattern of predatory behavior over several months:²

  • Physical Harassment: Touching students' thighs, slapping legs, and "kneading" students' hands for extended periods.
  • Verbal Sexual Harassment: Making comments such as "Your voice is sex-appealing" (목소리가 섹스어필적이다) and stating in mixed company that "The pleasure brought by scholarship is much greater than sleeping with women."
  • Coercion: Demanding individual drinking sessions ("I want to drink with you" / 너랑 술마시고 싶어 면담 신청).
  • Abuse of Power: Explicitly trading grades for alcohol and complicity: "If we go to the second round of drinking, I'll tell you the exam questions" and "If you want good grades, you pay for the drinks."

The Student Council's statement, titled "There is No Place for Perpetrators," explicitly asks: "Does the fact of inappropriate physical contact and remarks like 'your voice is sex-appealing' align with the [Educational Ethics Charter]?"³

They further declared:

"The school cannot exist without students… We can no longer recognize someone who threatened students and butchered the value of education as a member of Dongguk. You are no longer a teacher."

The Timeline of Silence: 4 Months of Inaction

The most damning aspect of this case is not the abuse itself, but the institution's refusal to act on its own findings. The timeline reveals a structural commitment to delay:⁴

  • June 2025: Dongguk University's Human Rights Center investigation confirmed the facts of sexual harassment and human rights violations.
  • July 2025: Professor F's appeal was rejected, re-confirming the findings.
  • August 5, 2025: The last Board of Directors meeting was held.
  • August – November 2025: For nearly four months, the Board of Directors failed to convene to discuss the disciplinary action or suspension of Professor F.

Despite the Human Rights Center concluding its investigation in July, the university allowed the professor to remain in his position for the entire fall semester until students were forced to post "daejabo" (large-format protest posters) on November 20, 2025.

Structural Impotence: The "Human Rights Center" Trap

The Student Council's meeting with the Human Rights Center revealed a critical systemic flaw we have warned international partners about: The Human Rights Center has no enforcement power.

In a briefing to students, the Center admitted:

"The Human Rights Center does not have the authority to directly enforce personnel actions against faculty members."⁵

The process is designed to be bureaucratic and slow, with redundant investigations:

  1. Human Rights Center Investigation
  2. Human Rights Center Deliberation
  3. Transfer to Office of Faculty Personnel (for "legality check")
  4. Office of Faculty Personnel "Truth Investigation" (A separate, redundant step cited as a primary reason for delay)
  5. Submission to Board of Directors
  6. Disciplinary Committee Referral

This labyrinthine procedure allowed a professor—already found guilty by the university's own investigators in June—to continue drawing a salary and potentially interacting with students until December. The Student Council explicitly demanded that the university "do everything in your power to remove Professor F" and "quickly establish a Disciplinary Committee," noting that the Board meeting had been inexplicably delayed since August 5th.

Systemic Context: A Pattern of Institutional Betrayal

This new case is not an isolated incident but part of a documented pattern of institutional failure at Dongguk University:

  • 220+ Days of Silence on Partnership Fraud: Just as the Board delayed action on Professor F for 4 months, the university has maintained over 220 days of silence regarding the 40% falsified Canadian partnerships documented by Gender Watchdog.⁶
  • IEQAS Certification Crisis: Dongguk holds IEQAS (International Education Quality Assurance System) certification, which is supposed to guarantee student safety. Yet, the university retains this certification despite a 61.5% sexual violence rate in arts programs and confirmed partnership fraud.⁷

    Predatory Corporate-Academic Structures: The case of Professor F mirrors the structural impunity enjoyed by other powerful figures, such as Tcha Sung-Jai, who holds quadruple power over students through his corporate and academic roles.⁸

Breaking the Silence

The case has sparked outrage not just on campus but across the international student community. One student observer, writing on social media, captured the urgency of the moment:

"I hesitated for a long time whether to publish, but thinking that if even we who see it don't speak up, then silence becomes part of the structure of perpetration."

This sentiment echoes the exact mission of our advocacy: silence is not neutral; it is an active component of the abuse.

Conclusion: A Pattern of Protection

This new case mirrors the 220+ days of silence regarding Dongguk's falsified international partnerships. Whether it is fraud or sexual violence, the institution's default response is silence and delay until external pressure becomes undeniable.

For international partners, this serves as a real-time case study: Dongguk's internal safety mechanisms are broken. A "Human Rights Center" that cannot enforce safety is not a safeguard; it is a liability shield.

References:

  1. Yang, Se-ho. "[Exclusive] Touching Thighs and Saying 'Your Voice is Sex-Appealing'… Dongguk University Professor in Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Power Controversy." Maeil Business News, November 24, 2025, https://v.daum.net/v/20251124133901823
  2. Dongguk University Student Council (Dongbaek). "There is No Place for Perpetrators." Public Statement, November 20, 2025.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Dongguk University Student Council (Dongbaek). "Reason for Delay in Case Resolution." Instagram Slide 2, November 2025.
  5. Dongguk University Student Council (Dongbaek). "Human Rights Center Processing Procedure." Instagram Slide 3, November 2025.
  6. Gender Watchdog. "Urgent Partner Verification Request - Dongguk University Falsified Partnerships & Student Safety Risks." Gender Watchdog Research Collective, December 2, 2025.
  7. Korean Women's Development Institute (KWDI). "Survey on Sexual Violence in Arts and Culture Universities." 2020.
  8. Gender Watchdog. "The Alleged Predatory Appointment and Government Cover-Up." Gender Watchdog Blog, 2025.