KU’s Mechanical Engineering department faces scrutiny following a protest of professor Lorin Maletsky’s alleged inappropriate behavior with students.

Kara Lyons | @Kara_LyonsTV

Junior mechanical engineering major Monique Vieux created posters and stood on the lawn outside the Leep 2 building to inform bystanders walking by what is happening in the mechanical engineering department.

According to the Kansas City Star there was an incident with a female student and her abusive ex-boyfriend. Her abuser was expelled from the university due to his actions, and Maletsky had knowledge of the situation. 

The Kansas City Star reported in the same article that Maletsy asked the victim to take a leave of absence while her abuser could finish out his degree; after she declined to do so, she was forced to work in the same place she was sexually abused.

After reading about this case and experiencing her own instances with Maletsky, Vieux thought more attention needed to be drawn toward his behavior, especially since he is the only professor who teaches the introductory course all freshman majoring in mechanical engineering take.

“We are just spreading the word that we are tired of having him as a professor that we cannot avoid when all of the records we have available of him says that we should be avoiding him as much as possible,” Vieux said.

Many students that passed by the building saw the signs Vieux and others held, stopped to ask more about what was happening with the professor, or joined alongside Vieux in the protest with posters of their own.

While students haven’t had their own experience with Maletsky, this alleged behavior happening to their friends had encouraged them to join in the protest.

“I personally don’t enjoy either my friends or people in general who are harassed just because of their gender and their identity,” Manuel Peña, junior engineering student at KU, said.

Maletsky declined to comment about the protest, or the allegations against him.