A professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in Fuchu has been suspended for three months for sexually harassing two female students, officials said Wednesday.
The professor, 55, committed repeated acts of sexual harassment against the women in 1998, including coercing them to go with him to a bar, forcing them to dance with him and touching them, university officials said.
The university did not release his name.
The officials said they were alerted to his behavior after receiving a written complaint in November 2000.
An investigation by the state-run university found that the untoward behavior began as early as 1993 and that he had invited a female student to dinner and made inappropriate remarks to another female student, according to the officials.
They said that while the professor admitted such acts as dancing with the students, he said he did not believe they constituted sexual harassment.
However, officials of the university, including the president, decided Tuesday to mete out the disciplinary action given the gravity of the complaints lodged by the students.