Another professor from the National University of Singapore has lost his job due to allegations of sexual misconduct. It was reported on Thursday (Apr 28) that Ethan Putterman, who was an associate professor at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences’ political science department, had been fired.
Since September 2020, former Tembusu College fellow Jeremy Fernando, former Provost Chair Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Theodore Geoffrey Hopf, and former Director at the East Asian Institute Zheng Yongnian, have all lost their jobs due to similar reasons.
NUS announced on Apr 28 that a faculty member had been terminated for “inappropriate and unprofessional behaviour” towards a student, without naming Prof Putterman, although he has been identified in the media and has spoken to TODAY.
A student had made a complaint of sexual misconduct on March 3 and police investigations are still ongoing.
The university said in its statement that a committee of inquiry had found that the faculty member in question had breached NUS’ code of conduct after it “determined that the staff’s actions constituted inappropriate and unprofessional behaviour towards the student.”
“Based on the findings of the committee of inquiry and in view of the serious nature of the misconduct, the staff’s employment with the university has been terminated.”
Prof Putterman’s profile page can no longer be found on the NUS website.
He was quoted in an Apr 29 article in TODAY as having said, “I’ll just say that everything was demonstrably consensual and, after admitting it, I resigned from NUS (on March 23) and they accepted it.
This said, NUS chose to fire me regardless and go public with it despite my almost 21 years of service to the university. I’m not bitter, though, we all make mistakes and life goes on. I wish everyone the best. Honestly.”
A number of netizens commenting on the story have asked why there have been so many NUS professors who’ve behaved inappropriately toward their students.
Others called for NUS and other universities to have “clear rules” governing the behaviour of the members of their communities.
/TISG
NUS professor resigns after allegations of sexual harassment surface on Twitter
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