PUC-Campinas, a university in the interior of São Paulo, suspended on Friday, the 19th, a professor accused of making a comment trivializing rape in the classroom. Geraldo Gonçalves Júnior, professor of Administration at the entity, would have told students in a class on May 12 that, during a possible act of sexual violence, if “inevitable”, the victim should “relax and enjoy”.
“If rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it”, the teacher would have said, in a comparative way, while debating with the students commitments that university students are obliged to fulfill, according to the report of students heard by the Estadão. At the time, he was teaching a class on Strategic Management for the 2nd year class of the International Relations course.
“The students were talking to the professor about an educational project, (and he) compared the mandatory nature of the project to (inevitable) rape. And then he gave the speech”, said a student who was present in the room, who did not want to be identified. Still according to her, the comment “caused a shock to everyone”, because the comment was said without direct relation to the subject that was being discussed.
The speech caused indignation among the students, who even got up and left the room. The case was taken to the academic center of the course, the CARI “XXVI de Setembro”, which manifested itself with a public letter of repudiation and a request for an investigative investigation against the professor. The Athletics of the Center for Administration, Economic Sciences, Accounting and International Relations (Faceca) of the university also repudiated the professor’s sentences.
During the week, PUC-Campinas had already expressed its opinion about the episode and said that it repudiated “any kind of allusion to rape”. This Friday, in a new statement, the university informed the professor’s removal and opened an inquiry to investigate the episode.
“PUC-Campinas informs that it removed the professor responsible for comments alluding to the rape. The Institution also opened an investigation to investigate the facts and take appropriate measures. The university emphasizes that it repudiates any kind of allusion to rape that could mitigate or encourage this type of crime,” the university wrote.
The report was unable to locate Geraldo Gonçalves Júnior. But, according to the students’ reports, he would have apologized to the class on Thursday, 18, and said, alongside the course director, that he had no intention of offending the students and that he regretted the speech.
Teacher would have already made the same joke in class during the pandemic
The teacher is also accused of having said the same sentence years ago, during an online class given in the covid-19 pandemic. In a video obtained by Estadão, Geraldo Gonçalves Júnior makes the same comment: “If rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy”. After speaking, Geraldo laughed for a few seconds.
On the PUC-Campinas website, Gonçalves Júnior is still on the list of professors in the International Relations course. According to the information on the portal, he has been a professor at the entity for eight years and seven months. And he is a professor of the Administration course, but teaches some classes for International Relations because they are courses at the same center.
Academic Center of the course creates commission to monitor the case
This Saturday, the 20th, the Academic Center for International Relations announced the creation of a commission to monitor the case. “After we released the note, we are also maintaining this commission on a permanent basis to monitor the case and continue the pressure to demonstrate that, as students, we find it unjustifiable to let a person like that go unpunished who could be teaching”, said Pedro Afonso, president of the academic center.
#PUCCampinas #suspends #professor #joked #rape #classroom