Future challenges

Luo Qianqian exposed Chen Xiaowu by sharing her story on Sina Weibo. Her post received more than 3 million hits in a single day, instantly triggering a nationwide debate.

On Jan 11, Beihang University said an investigation had found Chen guilty of misconduct. He was removed as vice-president of the Graduate School and his teaching credentials were revoked.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Education announced that Chen had been removed from the list of Changjiang Scholars, the highest academic award for individuals in China, and ordered to repay the stipends that came with it.

The ministry also said it would not tolerate any behavior that contravenes the professional ethics of teachers or harms students. It pledged to work with other government bodies to build an effective, long-term mechanism to prevent further cases.

"The result was a surprise to me," Luo said this week, speaking on the phone from her home in the United States.

"From the beginning, I stuck to the belief that all our efforts and the evidence we had collected deserved an answer. I'm proud of Beihang. It demonstrated the unity of knowledge and behavior it taught us."

While many people have applauded Luo's bravery and the outcome, others believe it will be hard to replicate, because many people who allege assault give confused or contradictory accounts, which means their stories are dismissed or ignored.

A male student at Beihang's School of Reliability and Systems Engineering, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the system often discourages people from lodging official complaints.

"It seems the only way for victims to obtain justice is to display their wounds on the internet and attract media attention. There should be an effective system to protect their rights and interests without repercussions," he said.

According to thepaper.cn, a news portal in Shanghai, on Monday, students from more than 40 universities nationwide, including Peking and Tsinghua, China's most prestigious seats of learning, publicly urged the establishment of a mechanism to deal with, and prevent, sexual assault in colleges.