Creation of the research centre CREA in the University of Barcelona. Until 2003-2004 CREA does not receive any attack.
Ramon Flecha (RF) presents the first complaint, proposing the Rector’s team to face the continuous situations of sexual harassment creating international bodies and proceedings.
CREA includes the following point in its ethical code:
Before gender violence, all the members of CREA we want to contribute, to the greatest extent possible, to its eradication. Therefore, we stand – as it is asked from different organisations- for zero tolerance to harassment. We consider it essential (1) to always stand by the victim and never by the harasser and (2) to collaborate with the victim to explain and report all those cases of which we have information, whether close or distant ones, with the aim of improving the quality of life of all people, and especially of the women who are victims of mistreatment.
October 2004 Conference at the Barcelona Science Park: Preventive Socialization of gender violence. The topic of gender violence in universities is tackled and there are conversations with female members of parliament that commit themselves to introducing the measures proposed in a future law.
October 2004 Conference at the Barcelona Science Park: Preventive Socialization of gender violence. The topic of gender violence in universities is tackled and there are conversations with female members of parliament that commit themselves to introducing the measures proposed in a future law.
Anonymous people start a defamation campaign, mainly through the Internet and also in some university halls. From extremely sexist perspectives, they invade our private lives and even our sexual options with continuous lies. The director of CREA receives dead threats in three different moments.
Pioneering research in Spain: Gender violence in Spanish Universities. National R+D plan. Secretary of State of Universities and Research. Ministry of Work and Social Affairs (Valls, 2005-2008). This research leads to different measures and policies that oblige universities to have equality commissions and protocols against gender violence.
Student AV receives the first emails with harassment content from Professor JM. AV will be the first victim that reported Professor JM.
Lídia Puigvert send the Dean of the Economy and Business Faculty a letter where she specifies that the structure of the sociology master’s degree and PhD promotes “three types of pressure. The first one is sexual; not responding to any insinuation or not accepting to have tutorials outside the UB wherever the professor says may have serious consequences for the student’s qualification, although with no doubt the director will justify this scoring with academic criterion and will obtain the Faculty’s guarantee”. Before this same letter, it was already mentioned that “there is no quality university in the world with a process like this or similar”. Although the letter does not specify the name of the person the letter refers to, there are continuous references to the professor who directs the master’s and PhD’s seminars and everybody knew it was about JdM. We never received an answer.
Master’s student AV asks Professor Ramón Flecha for help showing him an email by Professor JM. Ramón Flecha presents, attaching this email, a report clarifying that “the receptor of the email agrees with me on sending it, also on talking to you and whoever is necessary to contribute to the solution of a situation that persists since many years and affects many. To the extent that the mentioned professor also adds to his signature the brand of the first University in the world, I feel professionally and ethically obliged to communicate the situation to this university as well and, in particular, to its Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response”.
The Equality Commission of the Faculty evaluates the letter and the email and decides there is no case.
The Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response of Harvard sends the Dean an email saying that Professor JdM cannot put Harvard University’s name in his communications.
The Equality Committee of the Faculty meets again and decides to initiate the case.
AV gets in contact with the second victim, who decides to bring her testimony and emails. Then victims will be contacted.
The Board of the Faculty of Economy and Business of the UB approves the “Protocol for the prevention, detection and action against sexual harassment.”
The UB sends the case to the District Attorney.
El País, Cataluña, 5/2/2014″The responsible for universities has also referred to the alleged case of sexual harassment at the University of Barcelona where the catedratico professor of sociology …. was involved, labelling it as a “regrettable fact that will set a precedent”. “It is also unfortunate that there are people who say now that they knew this fact lasted for years and they did not report it. And I do not mean the victims, but the university officials. If they knew, why did they not act?”, asked Castellà himself. The secretary was referring to the statement made by the dean of the faculty of Economics, … , in front of the Mossos (regional police), when she recognized that in 1987, when she was a student, the existence of harassment was already rumoured at the faculty.”
http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2014/02/05/catalunya/1391631184_736384.html
CREA presented a complaint before the judge for all the false accusations disseminated anonymously
Professor JM’s reincoporation to the UB is being spoken about and that it is mandatory that he has to teach.
Letter of the students’ movement rejecting the reincorporation of Professor JM to teaching.
The attacks based on anonymous testimonies are disseminated in the press. Some media also include the voice of the victims of sexual harassment and the voice of CREA. A few of them take a stand in favour of the victims and not of the harassers.
Some complaints against CREA are being filed. We get to know about this fact because someone filters the information to the media. Since this is not a formal complaint and the facts are not proven, CREA has never had access to the content of these complaints nor to know from who they came from. It is likely that some of these people have not been at CREA ever.
The complaints filed were dismissed by the Provincial Prosecutor Office, according to the article 773.2 thus demonstrating the non-existence of offense.