Kot Man Kam, president of the University of Macau Alumni Association, said on Friday that repeated criticisms of the university in recent weeks regarding allegations of sexual harassment are unfair, urging the public not to rush into passing judgments.
Kot also questioned the credibility of UMAC Watchdog, an external group that says it is “monitoring” the university.
UMAC is the public university’s former acronym. The university is now officially known as UM.
The association held a press conference at Pousada Marina Infante Hotel in Taipa in response to the announcement last week by political activists Jason Chao Teng Hei and Kam Sut Leng – two UM alumni – that they have set up the UMAC Watchdog group.
Chao said the group’s aim was to exert pressure on the university to ensure it protects public interest, in light of the controversies surrounding last year’s disciplinary action against then UM associate professor Bill Chou Kwok Ping and the separate cases of two professors accused of sexually harassing their students.
While one of the professors – Wang Jianwei has steadfastly denied the accusations, the identity of the other professor has not been officially revealed by the university.
Kot said that some members of the public were jumping to conclusions and discrediting the university. Commenting on the group founded by Chao, Kot said it was simply a pressure group that was making random statements about the university based on reports that he argued may be untrue. He said he hoped the public will not be“misguided” by these reports and that the UMAC Watchdog activists should dig deeper for the facts before issuing statements. (macaunews/macaupost)
