40 Students Involved in Obscene WhatsApp Group at UGM Engineering Faculty

The Faculty of Engineering (FT) at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) has deactivated ten students suspected of participating in obscene chats used to harass female students. The WhatsApp group in question comprised 40 members.

“Based on the confessions of the suspects and information I obtained from the meeting (with the suspects), the WhatsApp group was formed for the purpose of discussing campus assignments, and it has had 40 members since several months after classes began,” stated the Dean of UGM’s Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Ir. Selo, via a short message.

“However, that is the confession of the suspects; I have not yet verified its accuracy,” he added.

Selo noted that the obscene chats used to harass female students had been occurring prior to April 2026. The inappropriate conversations within the WhatsApp group reportedly ceased following the viral news of a similar sexual harassment case involving students from the Faculty of Law (FH) at the University of Indonesia.

“I also received information that the conversations in the group stopped in April 2026, when the FH UI case went viral. The screenshots of the conversations circulating widely on social media are from conversations that took place before April 2026,” he said.

Regarding how the case became public, Selo admitted that his office is currently coordinating with the UGM Sexual Violence Prevention Task Force (Satgas PPKS), which is conducting further investigations.