10 UGM Engineering Students Suspended Pending Investigation into Sexual Harassment
A case involving obscene chats that harassed a female student has occurred at the Faculty of Engineering (FT), Gadjah Mada University (UGM). Ten students suspected of involvement have been deactivated from all academic activities, and sanctions are currently pending.
The harassment case came to light through a thread on the social media platform Threads. The thread featured screenshots from a WhatsApp group belonging to students in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (DTETI) at the UGM Faculty of Engineering, containing sexually harassing content. The posts showed group members making harassing comments regarding a female student’s body parts.
UGM spokesperson, Dr I Made Andi Arsana, confirmed the case and stated that the university is conducting an investigation. “UGM is taking careful and cautious steps to investigate this case of sexual violence. The Faculty of Engineering has issued a statement of position. Coordination with relevant parties is ongoing to ensure appropriate measures are taken. We will provide updates at the first opportunity,” Made told detikJogja via text message on Monday (28/9).
The Faculty of Engineering at UGM responded by suspending the 10 students during the investigation period. “Before the final sanctions are decided by the UGM Task Force for the Prevention and Handling of Sexual Violence (PPKS), within the next 1.5 months. This suspension can be extended if necessary, for instance, if the PPKS investigation is not yet complete,” said the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Prof Ir Selo.
Prof Selo emphasised that the suspected students have been suspended from all lecture activities as of Tuesday (29/9). He stated that the faculty met with the 10 suspects on Monday (28/9). “This morning, the faculty planned to temporarily suspend all suspected students (documents are being prepared). It is true (suspended starting today); the suspension documents for the 10 suspects are being signed,” he said.
He added, “I have met directly with the suspected students. There were 10 individuals yesterday, and we are continuing to investigate other students who may be involved. All of them are from the 2024 cohort.”
Prof Selo also revealed that the WhatsApp group involved was originally created for discussing academic assignments and contains dozens of members. “Based on the admissions of the suspects and information I obtained from the meeting, the WhatsApp group was formed for the purpose of discussing campus assignments, and it has had 40 members since several months after classes began,” Selo said, though he noted he had yet to verify the full accuracy of these claims.
Selo noted that the obscene chats occurred before April 2026. He mentioned that the inappropriate conversations in the group had ceased following the viral news of a similar sexual harassment case involving students from the Faculty of Law at the University of Indonesia. “I also received information that the group conversations stopped in April 2026, when the FH UI case went viral. The screenshots circulating widely on social media are from conversations prior to April 2026,” he added.