Police Disperse Protest for Kosovo Professor's Firing over Harassment Claims

Kosovo police forcibly dispersed a protest by student activists at the University of Pristina who were demanding the dismissal of a professor accused of allegedly sexually harassing female medical students.

Activists and students from the University of Pristina block the door of the rectorate building, April 11, 2024. Photo: BIRN/Verone Zymberi

Kosovo Police forcefully dispersed a protest in front of the University of Pristina rectorate building on Thursday for the dismissal of a professor of mathematics over claims of sexual harassment.

Police dragged the protesters away from the doorway of the rectorate and arrested one of them, Rron Gjinovci, executive director of the NGO Organisation for the Increase of Quality in Education, ORCA. He was released shortly afterwards.

Activists from the University Feminist Movement from the University of Pristina, joined by activists from ORCA and other students, had been blocking the entry to the rectorate building.

They were trying to prevent members of the university’s Council of Ethics from leaving before they made a decision to dismiss Xhevat Krasniqi, the professor of mathematics who some students at the Faculty of Medicine have accused of sexual harassment.

“It is time to listen to the stories of the students and requests from the activists that are organising the protest and for the rest of us showing solidarity with them,” Gjinovci wrote on Facebook after his release.

The harassment claims surfaced in late February when 27 medical students filed a formal complaint against Krasniqi.

Krasniqi has denied the allegations against him. He did not respond to BIRN’s request for a comment about the claims.

The management of the Faculty of Medicine dismissed Krasniqi in early March and the faculty’s dean, Suzana Manxhuka-Kerliu, officially forwarded the students’ complaint to the university’s Council of Ethics. The students are Krasniqi’s dismissal from the university.

The Council of Ethics, composed of four men in violation of Kosovo’s Law on Gender Equality, which envisages equal participation of women and men in all areas of public life, started the review process on March 28, a month after the complaint was filed.

The council had not dismissed Krasniqi from the Faculty of Education, where he is mainly employed, by the time of publication of this article.

Krasniqi was questioned by the Council of Ethics on April 4, five weeks after the complaint against him was filed.

According to the University of Pristina’s regulations on disciplinary action against academic staff, the Council of Ethics should question an accused professor within five working days from the submission of the complaint, and a decision should be made within 30 days.

When questioned by the council, Krasniqi denied the initial claims made in the complaint filed by the 27 students. He accused the students of taking revenge against him due to his harsh grading criteria.

However, during the 45-minute interview, the Council of Ethics did not refer to the sexual harassment incidents the students described in their complaint.

The members of the Council of Ethics, Izet Morina, Skender Muji, Arben Hajdari and Rrezart Galica, declined to provide BIRN with the April 4 meeting’s minutes or comment on what was said.