Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin describes two years of harassment by the UCD professor

Broadcaster and speaker Dr. Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin is being commended for speaking about her personal experience of sexual harassment at UCD.

Dr. Ní Shúilleabháin, assistant professor at UCD, described the ordeal in an in-depth interview in today’s Irish Times.

She detailed a series of interactions between herself and a teacher over a two-year period between 2015 and 2017.

Professor Hans-Benjamin Braun, 58, was charged with harassment late last year and banned from communicating with Dr. Ní Shúilleabháin for five years.

Sexual harassment in academia is a serious and systemic problem that too often goes unchecked. Talk to @IrishTimes about my experience of sexual harassment by a colleague @ucddublin
1 / n https://t.co/SOryHh47sY

– Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin (@aoibhinn_ni_s) September 5, 2020

At one point in those two years, she appeared at a hotel in Cork after seeing on social media that Dr. Ní Shúilleabháin was on a weekend break with friends. Gardaí took him out of the hotel twice, on two consecutive days, and Dr. Ní Shúilleabháin received a Garda escort out of Co Cork.

Dr Ní Shúilleabháin said the Cork incident “was incredibly stressful … The whole weekend it was.”

She said the experience left her living in fear and she hopes her story will draw attention to the harassment of female academics and college students on college campuses in Ireland.

The National Women’s Council (NWC) said that talking about her two-year ordeal highlights the shortcomings that still remain across the sector.

“Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin’s experience shows the profound and significant impact sexual harassment has on all aspects of a person’s life,” said Director Orla O’Connor.

It highlights how this trauma can be aggravated by the response of an institution that does not fully recognize the seriousness of the problem and its responsibility to offer adequate protection to the victim.

The NWC is now calling for urgent action by all tertiary institutions to ensure that both staff and students can be safe on campus.

“When an incident occurs, it is critical that we have clear policies and procedures in place that follow best practices in this area and ensure that the victim is supported and protected at all times,” said Ms. O’Connor.

“While progress has been made in many universities and colleges in this regard in relation to students, we now need a comprehensive approach that encompasses all staff and is recognized and reinforced through the governance structures of the institutions. We urge all tertiary institutes to prioritize the full implementation of the ‘National Framework’ on sexual harassment and violence for higher and higher education “.