"Drop out of school": a university official's advice to a student who had reported an assault

BarcelonaShe never saw him as "dangerous." He was a classmate, six years older, peculiar, but she couldn't have guessed what would eventually happen. Joana—a fictitious name to protect the victim's identity—was sexually assaulted when she was 19 by a classmate at the UPC. GS ended up reporting him, and is now awaiting trial. The Prosecutor's Office is seeking two years in prison for the alleged perpetrator of the assault. During the trial, Joana felt that her university was failing her.

The boy tried to isolate her during the years they shared a classroom. It got worse and worse, although she tried to distance herself. However, it was difficult, since there are few students in the civil engineering program and, therefore, they shared jobs, and he did everything he could to be close to her. He even let it slip among his classmates that they were in a relationship, but that she hid it because it was embarrassing. In October 2021, while they were studying for an exam at night, he groped her while the girl and a classmate were stretching out to rest. Joana also claims that GS stole intimate content (a series of videos) from her phone while she was sleeping. That's when the nightmare began.

Despite the shock of what had just happened, and the fact that she was completely "lost," after the exam she took the matter to the UPC, to the person in charge of harassment. The first response she received from the university was "regrettable" because she thought they would guide her through a crisis, and she only felt re-victimized. According to Joana, the first inputs The information she received was that the events had occurred "outside the university" and that applying the protocol "would be of no use." After a meeting with the vice-rector and legal services, she was told that the events described "constituted a crime" and that she should file a complaint with the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) and, subsequently, file a complaint at the school. It wasn't that easy. It never is for a victim of sexual violence.

The second semester was "torture." She shared a space with him. She was "depressed" and stopped eating; some days she didn't have the strength to shower or leave the house. But at the same time, due to her family situation, she had to pass the course at all costs. "Every day I tried to survive," she explains, recalling how she would go to school in fear, often accompanied by her partner, and how there were days when she didn't even have the strength to "pick up a pen." But there was nothing she could do. "If I went to the emergency room, what could I say?" she asks. In the summer, he asked to leave Erasmus, "as far away as possible," to try to distance himself from the suffering and daily experiences he experienced at the university. This gave him the strength to report the Catalan police and initiate legal proceedings.

He's also studying for a master's degree.

Upon his return from Erasmus in the summer of 2023, he enrolled in a master's degree. He did too, and as time passed, he became more defiant toward Juana, who asked not to share space with the attacker, teach online classes, or split the class into two groups. They told him it wasn't feasible for logistical and budgetary reasons. But what hurt him most was that the person who was supposed to help him, in a relaxed tone, offered him a possible solution to what he was experiencing: "You can drop out of school."

Faced with this situation, he sought help outside, from Aadas (Assistance Association for Women Sexually Assaulted), and in May 2024, he formally requested activation of the protocol. Until then, he hadn't done so because they had discouraged him, arguing that "it would be very difficult to prove" the facts and remembering that the assault had "happened outside the center." Finally, on July 24, the commission issued a report in which it agreed upon and planned various measures to "avoid" the two meeting in person and "guarantee a safe and respectful environment." These measures, for Juana, came too late. "In three years, and after many meetings, the only solution they gave me was to drop out of my studies," she laments.

The UPC, without assessing specific cases due to confidentiality issues, assures that if "a person reports a situation of violence," the center seeks to "quickly activate all support and accompaniment measures," while "applying the procedural framework in force at the time of the assault." Following the publication of the news, the university stated that it "cannot make assessments on the events that are the subject of a criminal complaint" and that the protocol "is limited" to events that have not been brought to court to avoid "interference and preserve the rights of all parties." In any case, the UPC assures that the reference to dropping out of school by a school official "does not reflect institutional actions or instructions" and regrets if any communication has been perceived in this way.