No faculty sex scandal: PKU

Peking University (PKU) denied online rumors on Wednesday, which alleged that deans and professors from the university had been involved in an on-campus sex scandal.　

The allegations were originally posted on a Sina microblog registered in the name of Zou Hengfu, a former PKU professor. He claimed that some university officials had inappropriate relationships with waitresses working in a campus restaurant called Mengtaoyuan.

He also alleged that in some other campus restaurants, PKU faculty and restaurant staff exchanged sex for the chance to attend classes and get degrees.

The post immediately attracted an enormous amount of attention since it was first posted on Tuesday, and was reposted over 70,000 times with 18,000 comments by 10:30 pm Wednesday.　

Jiang Langlang, the media officer at PKU, told the Beijing Morning Post Wednesday that Zou's allegations are very irresponsible and bizarre and not backed by evidence.

"Maybe it's because the university didn't extend his contract. We don't know his real intention and purpose," Jiang told the paper, adding that PKU reserves the right to sue for slander.

Zou's tenure ended in 2007, because he seldom attended class, but Zou insisted he was fired because of conflicts with faculty, the report said.　

When the Global Times reached Jiang, he said that his comments on the matter remain unchanged.

Xia Xueluan, a professor of sociology at PKU, agreed that the allegations sound extremely ridiculous.

"I didn't know this Zou, and I can't imagine how a university professor could criticize his former university in this unreasonable way," he said.

An anonymous waitress from Mengtaoyuan Restaurant, where Zou claimed university staff had inappropriate relationships with waitresses, said that staff were shocked when they heard the news.

"It's true that the university staff, including deans and professors, come here to eat, but something like this has never happened," she said.

"This is the first time I've heard this rumor," the waitress said.

Zou's allegations also angered university students. Yuan Jia, a postgraduate student at PKU said that these rumors are unbelievable.

"He [Zou] might have a conflict with the university," she said.

"But I've never heard any rumors about sex scandal between professors and students or waitresses," she noted.