A Spate of Sexual Harassment Cases on Campus: What Is Going On?
In the last month, there have been at least seven news reports concerning sexual violence on university campuses. In early June 2026, at least 16 students were found guilty of sending lewd chat messages. All the perpetrators were from the same campus, the Faculty of Law at the University of Indonesia (UI). The university administration moved quickly to follow up on the case, which had gone viral in online media. According to detikcom, some of the perpetrators received sanctions, including a suspension of up to three semesters.
Elsewhere, an incident of sexual violence also emerged at Semarang State University (Unnes). A student with the initials MFA (19) was charged under the Sexual Violence Crime Act (UU TPKS), which carries a maximum penalty of five years, after verbally harassing a shuttle driver. Summarising a report from detikJateng, the suspect was confronted by fellow students late on Wednesday night (17/6) after sending obscene messages to the victim.
A case of cyber-based harassment also occurred at Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java. As reported by detikJatim, the campus community has recently been in uproar over an alleged sexual harassment case at the Faculty of Law. Tragically, the perpetrator was known as a high-achieving student. The case came to light after the victim shared her story on the social media platform X. The account @tempatsampahub stated that the sexual harassment involved the distribution of her photos in an 18+ Telegram group. The perpetrator, known by the username ‘Kingcum’, allegedly took photos from the victim’s personal social media accounts and shared them in the 18+ Telegram group.
The student city of Yogyakarta has also not been spared from similar cases. Citing detikJogja on Monday (13/7/2026), the Sleman Police have received a report regarding the alleged sexual harassment of two female students by a male student from Universitas Ahmad Dahlan (UAD) Yogyakarta. The incident occurred while the victims were undertaking a community service programme (KKN). However, the police stated that the incident is still under investigation. This was confirmed by the Head of Public Relations of the Sleman Police, Iptu Argo Anggoro, who said the investigation is ongoing. “The case is currently still in the investigation stage by investigators. We cannot provide further details as the handling process is still underway,” said Iptu Argo, as quoted from detikJogja, Monday (13/7).
From the tip of Sumatra, the harassment case against a student at the University of North Sumatra (USU) is becoming clearer. After it went viral on social media, the USU Task Force for the Prevention and Handling of Sexual Violence (PPKS) received 10 reports from victims of harassment by CHS, a student from the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB). Most of the victims experienced sexual harassment via social media.