After the case of sociology professor Alfred Bulai, accused of sexual abuse, new accusations have surfaced against another SNSPA teacher. It is about Marius Pieleanu, whom several former female students say he sexually abused them. One of them wrote on Facebook that she was harassed and that she was afraid that she would not enter the license exam because she would have refused this teacher’s advances.
“Even now, more than 20 years later, I have tears in my eyes when I remember. And vomiting when I see him on TV”, writes a former student at SNSPA on Facebook, to a post by former teacher Mihaela Miroiu, from the same university. She claims that she told Mihaela Miroiu that she was sexually harassed by Pieleanu. The student reports that she was afraid that she would not be able to take the licensure exam because she refused Pieleanu’s advances.
Journalist Carmen Dumitrescu, a former student at SNSPA, also wrote on Facebook: “When it was the turn of the professors from Sociology (Bulai and Pieleanu), the older students briefly told us: “Be careful with these! Especially if they call you in practice! And be careful how you dress to classes, because if they like you, that’s it!” It was a kind of known fact, part of the university status quo at SNSPA. It was one of the university guarantees: that if somehow these two like you, it’s disgusting of you! So you had to be careful! What this self-protection consists of, I don’t even know now. It is true that many of us, when we had sociology classes, were careful not to put on make-up and not to dress in any way that could be classified as attractive. During the four years I attended the courses at SNSPA and during which I was a student of the two, I heard dozens of incidents. Most from practice. There was also talk of rape. I always wonder why no one says anything. The reasons were about the same: it is not good for the image of a young student with a career ahead of her to hear that she was sexually abused, the parents would have been disappointed, many paid taxes to keep their children there and wanted their money to materialize in diplomas, not in criminal complaints. So the girls were silent.”
Another accusation against the same teacher comes from the politician Ana Birchall. “”I’d like to visualize you epidermically”, “I want to make you a star”, “you’re too beautiful to be friends”, wrote Ana Birchall, on Facebook, about how professor Marius Pieleanu addressed her in 2008.
The Epoch Times contacted him by phone, and he told reporters: “I already have a label that I don’t recognize. As for me, except for some comments that are more or less biased, I am as surprised as you are”.
Even when the journalists asked him directly if he had any sexual act with the students, he said: “It is a question that has an extremely harsh content towards me and licentiousness, don’t get upset. I cannot answer such questions”.
The other SNSPA professor Alfred Bulai submitted a request for retirement from the National School of Political and Administrative Studies (SNSPA), after being accused by former students of sexual abuse, Libertatea revealed. Moreover, some criminal complaints have been filed to the Police in this case.
SNSPA decided to suspend the sociologist from all positions, during the investigation procedure of the institution’s Ethics Commission. There has never been a complaint against Alfred Bulai, submitted to the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Political Sciences, to the Ethics Commission of SNSPA or to other courts within SNSPA.
Education Ministry, the first reaction
The Ministry of Education had a first reaction on Wednesday, three days after the first revelations of the former students from SNSPA, who complained that they were sexually abused by professors Alfred Bulai and Marius Pieleanu, in which they show that “they do not tolerate any misconduct that could affect human integrity and dignity”.
The Ministry announced that it ordered the University Ethics and Management Council (CEMU) to check at the level of higher education institutions if there are cases of sexual harassment.
“The Ministry of Education does not tolerate, in the education system, any deviation that could affect the integrity and human dignity and supports the efforts of the National School of Political and Administrative Studies (SNSPA) to clarify and resolve the issues reported in the public space, which are aimed at unethical behavior of a university teaching staff. Considering the recent cases reported in the public space, at the request of the Ministry of Education, the University Ethics and Management Council (CEMU) will initiate checks at the level of higher education institutions regarding: cases that involved elements of sexual harassment (or similar acts) ; the way in which they were managed at the level of the university ethics commissions and the results of the actions taken at the institutional level, including by reporting on prevention measures. The audit of the university ethics commissions will also include the presentation of initiatives at the institutional level for the promotion of fundamental ethical values, such as academic freedom, respectively the fight against discrimination, abuse and harassment of any type”, according to a press release issued on Wednesday by the Ministry of Education.
“Sexual harassment is a scourge, which has disastrous consequences for both the victims and the working climate in any organization. When those who bully are also in positions of trust and authority, such as that of a teacher, the impact is all the more devastating. I appreciate the courage of all those who have stepped forward and told the truth, and I encourage all those who have been victims of abuse of any kind to report it,” says Education Minister Ligia Deca.
She requires universities to severely sanction any deviation from the norms of ethics and academic integrity. “As a minister, I constantly pursued the improvement of legislation in the field of ethics and deontology in the educational environment. I ask the universities that any deviation from the norms of ethics and integrity be severely sanctioned, ensuring the protection of victims and post-traumatic assistance. We will also act, together with the competent institutions and the university environment, to increase prevention actions in the educational system”, Ligia Deca said.
Ohhhh, we have a ME TOO wave in Romania. Lets clean the stables of Augeas.