Public outrage stormed the Moroccan social media sphere this Tuesday, December 28, after the emergence of screenshot text message exchanges between female students of the National School of Business and Management of Oujda (ENCGO) and a professor, sexually harassing them and demanding sexual favors in exchange for passing grades.
The professor was exposed for blackmailing a female student, soliciting sexual favors in a change for a passing grade for his class. The screenshots show that when the student threatened him with going to the administration to file a complaint, he wrote back saying “the administration is in my pocket, you can even go to the minister.”
After the exchange was first published on Twitter this Monday, multiple testimonies came to light, with many victims complaining of similar behavior from the same professor.
Instagram account “Encgland” published an anonymous letter from one of the harassed female students, where she says that “this monster does not stop harassing me by any means,” adding that it got so bad she felt compelled to leave the school.
The anonymous victim encouraged other female students who have faced the same kind of harassment to expose their harassers while calling for urgent interference.
The Association of Students of the ENCGO (ADE ENCG Oujda) issued a joint statement with the ENCGO Alumni strongly denouncing “all forms of discrimination and sexual harassment” within the intitution, while assuring this is not a defamation case, standing behind the victims.
Both student bodies urged the administration to “accelerate the investigation and confirm or deny the content of the anonymous message,” while “preserving the dignity of the students.”
Hundreds of students at the ENCGO gathered in the school this Tuesday to protest the blatant harassment, and to pressure the administration to take action against the professor, who maintains “these allegations are far from the truth,” all while threatening to file a defamation lawsuit.
Our sources at Hespress English have informed us the ENCGO is setting up an all-women special committee to investigate and handle the accusations and proceedings.
The university of Mohammed I of Oujda released a statement where it, too, condemned the “unworthy behavior,” denouncing the acts that “damage the reputation of the university.”
But the echo from this case will be far harder to quiet down, as this new unfortunate revelation comes amid an ongoing investigation of yet another “university sextortion” case, which has been making headlines for months.
Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) deputy Najwa Koukouss tabled an oral question to the Minister of Family and Solidarity and to the Minister of Education this Tuesday, concerning the propagation of sexual harassment and sexual extortion at Moroccan universities.
Indeed, Moroccan headlines have been monopolized for weeks by the shocking and alarming “sex for grades” case in the university of Settat, which saw the expulsion and prosecution of multiple professors for demanding sexual favors from their students in exchange for a passing exam grade.
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