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SINGAPORE – The National University of Singapore (NUS) has said it delayed filing a police report against former Tembusu College fellow Jeremy Fernando to take into account the well-being of the students involved.
Dr. Fernando was fired on October 7 following allegations of sexual misconduct against him by two students. NUS said on Wednesday (October 21) that it had made a police report “given the seriousness of the allegations.” Both students had alleged that Dr. Fernando made advances toward them without consent.
At a press conference on Friday (October 23), the university’s rector, Tommy Koh, admitted that there was “a considerable gap” between the date the university fired Dr. Fernando and when it made a police report.
“The university will delay reporting to the police if they feel that reporting to the police may cause the victim to self-harm … or reporting to the police will seriously damage the complainant’s mental health or make recovery difficult, if not impossible, “said Professor Koh.
“But at the end of the day, the university cannot stop reporting,” he added, citing NUS’s legal obligation to report suspected crimes to the police.
NUS had previously said that its staff spoke to both students about filing a police report multiple times between August 31 and October 7.
However, both students decided not to.
On Thursday, the women’s rights group Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) questioned NUS’s decision to file a police report when the alleged victims had decided not to.
Before these allegations, Tembusu College teacher Kelvin Pang said there were no “red flags” regarding Dr. Fernando, who taught interdisciplinary modules, focusing primarily on philosophy and literature. He said the university conducts benchmark checks and assessments when it hires new scholars.
ST previously reported that in an article that was part of a book he wrote in 2017, Dr. Fernando wrote that “insemination” can be part of teaching and could open up possibilities for students and teachers.
Taking out a bookmarked copy of the book, Professor Koh said that he had not read the book before. “If I had read this entry earlier when it came out in 2017, I would have advised Dr. Fernando,” he said.
When asked if more would be done to educate students and staff about consent after this incident, NUS Dean of Students Leong Ching noted that the university has an existing module called Respect and Consent. It was previously reported that Dr. Fernando had participated in the development of a consent workshop.
Responding to this, Associate Professor Leong said: “Many of us had input for (the module and it is) larger than one person … You need to continually talk about new contexts and new needs.”
Professor Koh said that in this era of #MeToo, students are aware of their rights and are much more willing to speak up if their rights are violated.
The #MeToo movement took off in 2017 when accusations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein resulted in many women sharing experiences of sexual assault or harassment.
Even then, “it is impossible for us to prevent a future Dr. Fernando … None of us knew he was a sexual predator,” he said.
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