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Yamagata prof. sacked over illicit filming of female students

Tohoku University of Art and Design
Tohoku University of Art and Design (tuad.ac.jp)

YAMAGATA (TR) – An art and design university dismissed a male professor for sexually harassing female students, including secretly filming their legs, the Sankei Shimbun reported on Sunday (June 3).

The Tohoku University of Art and Design, based in Yamagata City, said one of its male professors planted a camera under a table to film the legs of his female students and obtain illicit footage as he was tutoring them individually in June 2015.

A female student was suspicious of the professor’s behavior for some time, so she shot a video herself and took the proof to the university.

When the professor was questioned by the university, he claimed he wanted to “film the students hitting the books hard” and stressed he only had upper-body footage. By that time, the suspect had already deleted any incriminating images.

The university’s inquiry concluded that the professor’s conduct amounted to sexual harassment for filming the students without consent, regardless of the body part he claimed to have filmed.