Sexual Harassment at UI Law Faculty, Campus Deemed to Fail as Safe Space

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – The Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) has expressed deep concern over the digital sexual harassment case at the University of Indonesia’s Faculty of Law. JPPI National Coordinator Ubaid Matraji views this case as a stark warning for higher education. According to him, the case allegedly involving 16 students reflects a worrying paradox. Because sexual harassment occurred in an academic space that should be a centre for learning law and justice. “The case at the University of Indonesia’s Faculty of Law serves as a loud alarm. Legal violations are happening in a place where people learn law. This is not just irony, but a serious failure in building a safe and integrity-driven academic space,” said Ubaid when contacted by Republika on Tuesday (14/4/2026). Based on JPPI’s monitoring from January to March 2026, there were 233 cases of violence in educational environments. This figure shows that violence is no longer sporadic incidents, but a systemic phenomenon that occurs repeatedly and widespread. The distribution of cases shows that violence occurs in several places, including schools (71 percent), higher education (11 percent), pesantren (9 percent), non-formal education units (6 percent), and madrasah (3 percent). The most common types of violence found were sexual violence (46 percent), physical violence (34 percent), bullying (19 percent), policies containing violence (6 percent), and psychological violence (2 percent). “Nearly half of the cases are sexual violence. This indicates a serious failure in protecting students from the most basic crimes against the body and human dignity. If combined, the three main types of violence—sexual, physical, and bullying—contribute around 89 percent of all cases,” said Ubaid.