SINGAPORE, Oct 4 — Yale-NUS College student Brandon Lee Bing Xiang, 26, who was charged on Tuesday with taking illicit videos of several women at the school, has been suspended indefinitely.
In an update to the media today, the college said it is in the midst of reviewing Lee’s case and will “mete out appropriate disciplinary actions based on the evidence on hand”.
Professor Joanne Roberts, executive vice-president of academic affairs at the college, added: “He is on indefinite suspension during the investigation and disciplinary process.”
Yesterday, the liberal arts college had confirmed Lee was a student there, adding it has reached out to the affected female students to render support.
Prof Roberts said Lee “has been charged in court for insulting the modesty of a fellow student”.
“He was suspended the day after the college was notified about the incident in March 2019.”
She added that the matter is now before the courts and it would not be appropriate for the college to comment further on his case.
On Wednesday evening, college alumni received an email where Prof Roberts informed them that Lee had been suspended and is “restricted from campus by security as per college policy pending the outcome of the legal process.”
Court documents showed that Lee’s offences were allegedly committed in a classroom or a shower cubicle on campus between August 2017 and March this year.
He is accused of targeting at least four different women.
He was charged with 24 counts of intruding on a woman’s privacy to insult her modesty, with 21 of these pertaining to him placing his mobile phone above a cubicle door and filming a woman when she was taking a shower.
The other three charges state that he allegedly filmed under a woman’s skirt in a classroom.
Prof Roberts said: “The college takes a serious view of allegations of sexual misconduct and has in place an established process to firmly address such matters, as well as support systems to ensure the psychological well-being of our students.”
When cases of sexual misconduct are formally reported to the college, an investigation will be conducted and disciplinary action meted out where appropriate. There are also security measures in place to protect the safety and well-being of the students on campus.
There are “multiple levels of support”, she added.
Students can report sexual misconduct incidents to their residential college advisor — a senior student who provides mentorship and support for first-year students — or report incidents to their residential college’s dean’s fellows, rectors and assistant deans, she said.
They can also approach any of the 25 community members on a support team that has been trained in survivor support skills, or they can get access to an on-campus counselling support network which comprises psychologists, staff members from a counselling centre, and residential staff members.
There is a full-time staff member in the college whose responsibilities include overseeing these processes and coordinating survivor support, Prof Roberts said.
Information found online shows that Lee matriculated into Yale-NUS in 2016 and from 2017 to last year, he was president of its student government, an organisation of student leaders that works closely with the school administration.
In 2014, he was one among the first cohort of 20 Singapore Sports School student-athletes on the through-train Republic Polytechnic-Singapore Sports School Diploma in Sports and Leisure Management programme. He had graduated with a 3.94 GPA and was granted a Yale-NUS Dean’s scholarship.
He had competed at the Singapore 2009 Asian Youth Games and won a silver and a bronze in bowling events.
Lee will return to court for a further mention of his case on Oct 22.
If found guilty, he could be jailed for up to a year, fined, or both, for each charge of intruding on a woman’s privacy to insult her modesty.
Incidents of sexual misconduct on the premises of tertiary institutions have been in the news, with the main thrust coming after Ms Monica Baey, a National University of Singapore undergraduate, went public on social media in April detailing how a fellow student filmed her showering in a hostel bathroom.
Following a public outcry, NUS set up a victim care unit in August to help students who have similar encounters or who have been victims of sexual crimes. — TODAY
