Is the story of harassment at the art specialty at EHU over? We fix the chronology of the conflict with Sergey Seletsky and leave some open questions
News | 20.11.2024
Last fall, a scandal broke out at EHU, a Belarusan university in Vilnius. Former and current female students accused lecturer Siarhei Seletski of harassment. The trigger was his exhibition at CreateCulture Space. It positions itself as an inclusive safe-space and often holds femme events. EHU students were shocked that a professor who is “famous” for sexist jokes and humiliating female students would be exhibited in such a place.
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They shared their concerns with the organizers of the exhibition. They listened and canceled the event. This caused controversy on the network. Friends of the artist resented the “canceling”, his students told why they were against the exhibition.
The topic was picked up by the media. At first, the accents were strangely placed in it. One media talked to the girl who accused Seletski of harassment and presented the story as “the first cancelling in Belarusian art”, but not as a statement about harassment. Another media published comments from the artist's friends. They spoke about his talent and that he was a “good person”. A third media changed the narrative. It published monologues of former and current EHU students about bullying and harassment by Seletsky. With one of the girls the associate professor slept with her when she was drunk. The names of the girls were hidden for safety reasons.
After this publication, the university suspended the lecturer - but only for 10 days. During this time, they promised to conduct an internal investigation. No one contacted the girls who accused the artist of harassment, and the case went quiet.
They shared their concerns with the organizers of the exhibition. They listened and canceled the event. This caused controversy on the network. Friends of the artist resented the “canceling”, his students told why they were against the exhibition.
The topic was picked up by the media. At first, the accents were strangely placed in it. One media talked to the girl who accused Seletski of harassment and presented the story as “the first cancelling in Belarusian art”, but not as a statement about harassment. Another media published comments from the artist's friends. They spoke about his talent and that he was a “good person”. A third media changed the narrative. It published monologues of former and current EHU students about bullying and harassment by Seletsky. With one of the girls the associate professor slept with her when she was drunk. The names of the girls were hidden for safety reasons.
After this publication, the university suspended the lecturer - but only for 10 days. During this time, they promised to conduct an internal investigation. No one contacted the girls who accused the artist of harassment, and the case went quiet.
European Humanities University (EHU) / Vilnius.
European Humanities University (EHU) / Vilnius.
While the university dragged on with the proceedings, Seletsky recognized one of the heroines of the text about harassment (she was still a student) and filed a complaint against her with the Ethics Commission of EHU. The artist accused the girl of “defaming” his name and the honor of the university. The student was expelled.
Then new stories about bullying appeared in the media, this time not anonymous. This forced the university to continue the proceedings. Independent experts not affiliated with EHU joined the investigation. They invited the girls to a videoconference so that they could personally testify about harassment. Based on their testimony, the commission prepared a report for EHU and a recommendation to fire Seletsky. Almost three weeks later, the rector announced that he was suspending the associate professor.
After his dismissal, Seletsky decided to sue the university — and won. The proceedings lasted almost a year. It is important: the court considered the issue of wrongful dismissal. EHU incorrectly drew up the documents for Seletsky's dismissal, and the artist managed to prove it. Charges of harassment were not considered by the court. The girls who told the story even knew about the court hearing.
EHU had the opportunity to appeal the court's decision, but he did not do it. The artist has already returned to work at the university. What will happen next with the case? Will EHU, as a university that is based in Europe and promotes democratic values, pursue further proceedings or will the harassment allegations, in their opinion, be simply forgotten? These are the open questions that remain unanswered for the time being.
Перадрук матэрыялу або фрагментаў матэрыялу магчымы толькі з пісьмовага дазволу рэдакцыі.
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