Minister backs former Rose as brave Aoibhinn speaks out on harassment hell
‘SHADOW OVER MY WEDDING’
ACADEMIC and broadcaster Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin has been praised for speaking out about years of persistent harassment by a male colleague at University College Dublin.
The Professor of Maths and Statistics revealed in The Irish Times yesterday that her ordeal had cast a shadow over her wedding and made her think of giving up her academic career.
The former Rose of Tralee said she was speaking out to highlight the harassment of female academics and students on college campuses, and said it was vital that victims be encouraged to report what was happening to them. Yesterday, she wrote on Twitter: ‘Sexual harassment in academia is a serious and systemic issue that is too often left unchecked.
‘Everyone deserves to study or work in a safe environment, and we need to have conversations and cultural change in order to properly address this problem.’
Yesterday Higher Education Minister Simon Harris praised Ms Ní Shúilleabháin, saying there must be zero tolerance of sexual harassment in society and that ‘strong words must be backed by actions’.
Theoretical physics Professor Hans-Benjamin Braun, 58, was charged with harassment between 2015 and 2017 under section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997. He did not receive a conviction but was issued with a barring order by a judge late last year, telling him to stay away from Prof. Ní Shúilleabháin for five years. He is no longer with UCD.
In one incident, Mr Braun travelled across the country to a hotel in Cork demanding to see Ms Ní Shúilleabháin after she mentioned on social media that she was on a weekend break with female friends. He was removed by gardaí from the hotel twice, on two consecutive days, and Ms Ní Shúilleabháin received a Garda escort out of the county.
She said she spent the week in the runup to her 2017 wedding to Carlos Diaz afraid that Mr Braun would contact her or show up. Before getting engaged to her now-husband, she moved into a new home alone, and kept a crowbar close by for safety. Previously, Mr Braun had turned up uninvited to Ms Ní Shúilleabháin’s office in an agitated state, turned up unannounced to her meetings, repeatedly asked her out on dates, sent her unsolicited emails, and persistently phoned her. On one occasion he got a student to phone her to tell her he was telling nurses in a hospital that he loved her.
After one incident in which Mr Braun – with whom she had no professional relationship – asked her out, Ms Ní Shúilleabháin said he barged into her office.
‘He dropped his umbrella, I think he took off his jacket. He was drenched. And he just started pacing back and forth and saying things like, you know, “You haven’t been honest with me, I’ve been very honest with you about my feelings, I don’t do this very often, I don’t ask people out, you have lied basically and you haven’t been honest about how you feel about me.” He was really in a frantic state.’
That weekend, when she was at a hotel in Cork, he turned up at reception with a bunch of flowers, saying he knew her car was outside. ‘I was really worried at that point,’ she said.
Yesterday, Prof. Ní Shúilleabháin said that internationally 58% of female faculty and staff have experienced sexual harassment and that 50-75% of students at third level in Ireland said they had experienced sexual harassment in their first three years of study.
She also said the issue contributed to a lack of gender equality in academic posts, and revealed she had met Higher Education Minister Simon Harris who has put the issue at the forefront of his agenda. The National Women’s Council of Ireland also praised her for her bravery. ‘Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin’s experience shows the deep and significant impact sexual harassment has on every aspect of a person’s life,’ said director Orla O’Connor.
UCD would not comment yesterday on the case but said it had a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach to sexual harassment.
Ms Ní Shúilleabháin added: ‘I don’t want anyone else, student or staff, to go through the same experiences I did.’
‘He was really in a frantic state... I was worried’