Photo: Sam DeLong
The skirmish took place on 15 February at the Higher Institute for Philosophy of the Catholic University of Leuven, according to student magazine Veto. Bystanders had to come between the professor and the ‘assistant’. The police came to the university and took statements.
The incident has divided the faculty. Some students are calling for a boycott of the professor’s lessons. The course in which both the professor and the PhD student are involved was suspended after students disturbed the class.
The faculty’s main objective is that all required legal steps are taken, that justice is served and that rest is restored. In an interview in front of the camera the Leuven rector Rik Torfs says that the university takes this case ‘very serious’. The university will take measures, he says, but first the focus is on making sure that the legal services can do their job correctly.