A female student at Kigali Institute of Management (KIM) allegedly petitioned the university’s top governing body, the senate, to intervene in a case where her lecturer doctored her marks downwards because she turned down his sexual advances.

The second-year student alleged that the lecturer, Ephanpus Kariuki, had pursued her for weeks and had made it clear that her academic results would be affected.

A source at KIM told this newspaper on Sunday that Kariuki was forced to "leave the school after girls complained about him.”

The source added the practice is common in universities across the country and it was not surprising that it was happening at KIM.

"For years, universities receive complaints from female students that lecturers demand sexual favours in return for high marks,” the source who requested not to be named because he does not officially speak for the institute said.

He added that some students wrote to the institute complaining that the lecturer was harassing them.

Kariuki maintained his innocence when contactd by The New Times. He said that he welcomes independent investigations into the matter. He said his leaving KIM occurred with little fanfare since the girls could not substantiate their claims.

"First of all I was not sacked. I decided to quit, but then the management started talking about the girls’ claims,” Kariuki revealed.

He said he took a decision to leave KIM in October this year. "It’s true they questioned me about the girls’ claims but I think they found out later everything was baseless,” Kariuki explained.

He added that he was being framed because the management never wanted him to leave the school.

"Even male students used to fail, so it’s highly careless for the girls to say I was failing them intentionally,” he said, adding that the students should carry their own cross.
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A second-year female student who says followed Kariuki’s case said the lecturer was "actually harassed.”

"I think the lecturer was framed because the girls wanted free marks and the man was firm,” the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

She said the girls who complained about Kariuki "are the type you find loitering around always, hoping to get free things when the going gets tough.”

When contacted, KIM’s Rector, Benjamin Akinyemi, could neither deny nor confirm the claims. He said he was too busy to talk to this reporter.

"You know the year is ending and I am very busy handling other issues,” Akinyemi said by phone yesterday.

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