Campus diaries of sexual harassment by lecturers

Ivy* (not her real name), a student at the Kenyatta University, is partially blind. Growing up, sexual harassment in learning institutions was something she never imagined would happen to her. But it has.

Believing that disability is not inability, she decided to reach out to one of her lecturers for academic help in her pursuit of first-class honours.

“Instead of helping me, he started asking for sexual favours, cracking sexual jokes and telling stories to divert my attention to suit his sexual desires,” she says.

At some point, the said lecturer touched her private parts without her consent. “I rejected all of his sexual advances and as a result, he ensured I failed in his unit. This has affected my mental health,” Ivy says.

In the same institution, Mark*, who is in his third year, had a missing mark in one of his units and decided to follow up with his female lecturer.

The lecturer helped him sort out the academic issue. She later asked for his phone number, which he happily shared.

“One day she messaged me saying I had a nice body and she wanted us to have an intimate relationship. She sent me nude pictures, and this made me so uncomfortable that I did not attend her class for the whole semester,” Mark told the Star.

Ivy and Mark are just two of the many college and university students who have been sexually harassed in school.

A recent survey commissioned by ActionAid suggests half of all female students and a quarter of male students in higher learning institutions in Kenya have been sexually harassed.

In separate interviews with the Star, students from various universities and colleges shared their ordeals on condition that their identities remain undisclosed.

Officials in Kenyatta University and University of Nairobi declined to comment, but JKUAT said they punish offenders.

THWARTED DREAMS

During her studies at the Technical University of Kenya, Lilly* was asked by her lecturer to meet up in a restaurant in Westlands, Nairobi. He even sent her Sh5,000 for an ‘Uber’ to the restaurant.

She, however, refused to go, switched off her phone and her friends took the money.

“When I came back to school that Monday morning, he summoned me to his office and started questioning why I did not show up. Before I started talking, he came close to me and wanted to kiss me, I pushed him away and ran out of the office, scared,” she told the Star.

After the incident, she did not go to school for two weeks. When she resumed, however, she deferred her studies.

“I don’t think I will ever go to school again,” she says.

In the same university, Cindy* got into a disagreement with a lecturer over school politics. He asked her, ‘Do you think you have a say because you are in leadership?’ But she ignored him.

“Little did I know he would be my supervisor for my final year. I did not want to, but I had to give my body to him. It kills me inside and all I can do is hurt myself and move on. I am never going back to that school again,” she says.

At the Nairobi Institute of Business Studies, a lecturer wanted Faith* to have a relationship with him. Last year, he took her student card and told her he wanted to check her registration number. She had to follow him to his office, as a student cannot access the school without a student card.

“When I got into his office, he wanted me to hug him and even started touching me inappropriately. This made me feel uncomfortable and I left his office. This experience was traumatic, and I was so fearful,” she says.

Faith is still gathering courage to go back to school.

SABOTAGING GRADES

Winnie’s* case is different. At some point, the KU student was expectant and missed one of her Continuous Assessment Tests since she was unwell.

On asking the lecturer to give her an alternative test, the lecturer asked her to ‘do what other girls did’ to get her marks.

“I told him I was pregnant, to which he replied, ‘Even better, then I know you can’t get pregnant from me’. He failed me in the unit, and I am worried he will also fail me when I retake it,” she says.

Still in KU, Ann’s* lecturer locked his office door and started telling her how beautiful she was. She said thank you and wanted to leave but he insisted he wanted to have sex with her. She said no.

“He then walked up to me, pinned me on the wall and tried to kiss me by force. At this point, I started shouting and told him I would scream. This has really affected me and I have never been able to face this lecturer again,” she says.

A different student from UoN has had to alter her dress code to ensure a given lecturer does not notice her during exams.

“This lecturer had seen me in the exam room after I had done his unit and the results were out. He asked me what I got and when I told him I had scored a B. He told me that I should go see him and that he could give me an A,” she says.

Certain the lecturer was seeking sexual favours, the student never went to visit him. “Since then in every exam, I have to dress inconspicuously and I try to sit in more hidden places. I am always afraid he will sabotage my results,” she told the Star.

Linda*, a JKUAT student, had a missing mark in one of her units and decided to follow it up at the administrator’s office.

“When I got to the office, a man started touching my breasts and told me he would sort out my missing mark if I agreed to have sex with him. I felt so intimidated and scared,” she says. Linda never got her missing marks and had to repeat the unit several times.

Elly*, whose brother is a lecturer at Maseno University, says every weekend he would bring different female students to their home with the excuse that he was tutoring them.

“I am saying this on behalf of other students. In reality, my brother was taking sexual favours in exchange for grades,” he says.

FEMALE PERPETRATORS

Two years ago, Dave* was sexually harassed by a female course tutor. She asked him out several times but he turned her down. Following this, he ended up not graduating on time as his name was missing from the graduation list.

“This caused me so much pain and I have never forgotten about it. Because of this incident, I feel very insecure and have low self-esteem when dealing with female lecturers,” the Multimedia University student says.

Also speaking to the Star, Brian* says while in UoN, a female lecturer has constantly asked him to be in a relationship with her. He has always turned her down to protect his reputation.

“This is the reason I got Es in all the three units she has taught me. I will be done with campus next year and I feel so bad that the Es on my transcript will affect my ambition to achieve a first-class honours,” he says.

He is now glad that Covid-19 came and they have had to take online classes. “It is a blessing in disguise,” he said.

For Alvin, however, he approached one of his lecturers on his enrollment in UoN to seek advice on how he could access a loan. She told him to give her his phone number.

“I was hoping she would advise me, but she started sending inappropriate photos and telling me how she wanted me badly. At some point, there were indirect threats of failing exams and being discontinued,” he says.

Alvin says he has never reported since no one would believe that female lecturers sexually harass male students.

Dr James Wakaba, the dean of students at JKUAT, said "We are aware that these cases have been happening. We appointed a Gender Directorate who has been handling the sexual harassment cases in the institution."

Adding, "A number of perpetrators have gone for disciplinary and others have been expelled. When we have evidence, perpetrators face very harsh sentences."

Edited by T Jalio