A University of Guyana (UG) lecturer is facing allegations that he fondled one of his students during a private tutoring session on Monday evening at the Turkeyen campus.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Dr Marlene Cox told Stabroek News yesterday that a report was made to the university, which is currently investigating the matter. A report was also made to the police of the incident.
The report was made by a second-year student, who is also alleging that the lecturer sought to buy her silence with the promise of a copy of an examination paper.
The lecturer is attached to the Faculty of Social Sciences. It is alleged that the episode occurred at his office, where she would attend private tutoring sessions.
The student and a friend had arranged the private sessions with the lecturer at a cost of $4,000. The student had missed her mid-semester examination for a course that the lecturer teaches. She had also missed the first weeks of the course, which had started prior to her knowledge of them. The lecturer reportedly suggested that she and her friend take private sessions with him two times per week for one hour at the cost of $4,000 per session to make up for the classes that they had missed and they agreed.
For over a month, the student and her friend attended the 6.30 pm private sessions at the lecturer’s office without incident until Monday, when the alleged incident occurred.
The student turned up without her friend for the class and, as usual, she went into the office and the lecturer closed the door. Closing the door is a normal occurrence when the students visit the lecturer’s office for the sessions.
As per normal, the lecturer sat at his desk while the student sat opposite and they discussed an assignment. During the discussion, the lecturer reportedly called her over to where he was sitting to show her the topics they had to cover for the final examinations. At that point, she got up and went around to where he was seated to look at the paper.
It was at this point that the alleged fondling started, with the lecturer placing his hands around the student’s waist and raising her shirt up. It is claimed that he began caressing the student’s back and even tried to put his hands in her jeans. At this point, the student pulled away from him and picked up her bag, while the lecturer proceeded to ask her what she was going to do for the examination paper.
It is alleged that the lecturer tried to pull the student back into his office after she picked up her bag and was about to leave. As she ran from his office to her vehicle, this newspaper was told, the lecturer told her not to tell anyone about what happened and said he was going to give her a copy of the examination paper.
Once in her car, the student contacted her mother immediately. She then went home and in the company of her parents later made a report to the Sparendaam Police Station. In the company of a police officer they then proceeded back to the lecturer’s office and he was taken into custody.
A report of the incident was also made yesterday to the assistant Dean of the Faculty.
During the entire ordeal, no alarm was raised by the student, who said that she did not want to act in a manner that would have placed her in a more compromising situation.
