Horea-Mihai Bădău is a PhD university lecturer and has been teaching at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences of the University of Bucharest since 2008; he is 51 years old and has been on unpaid leave since September 2021. Almost everyone who went through FJSC heard about him soliciting female students, the Rise Project writes in an article that shows through the testimony of former students that what was being said in the halls of the faculty was true.

“From their stories, Badeau’s pattern of behavior emerges: all these years he chose female students with whom he communicated privately, and if they responded to his messages, he turned the conversation to the direction where he repeatedly told them that they needed a man like him in their lives

Since most were afraid to tell him to stop, he went further: he called them at night, invited them to the city, to his home, to the customs office. He hired them, coordinated their practices, sent them poems, told them what he thought was “feminine,” waited for them with flowers in the dorm, declared his love, and finally made advances. Several experts confirmed to us that he became an aggressor when he ended romantic relationships with students, abusing them emotionally and psychologically.

Psychologists, lawyers and activists I spoke with say Badeau went far beyond the teacher-student relationship, violating provisions of the University Code of Ethics and the Education Act. Experts also say that he abused the power he had and that most of his behavior amounted to sexual harassment,” the Rise Project investigation said.

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