institute.danza@alicialonso.org
+ 34 914-888-177
El Alicia Alonso Higher Dance Institute (ISDAA) issues this statement in relation to the recent information published in the press about the conviction, for harassment of a professor, of the Degree in Visual Arts and Dance, a degree taught and managed jointly by the Rey Juan Carlos University and the “Alicia Alonso” Higher Institute of Dance (a non-profit institution declared of general interest) within the framework from a public service to education. According to the Ruling of the Provincial Court pending Resolution by the Supreme Court dated March 30, 2023, the events that occurred took place between 2014 and February 2017, that is, six years ago, a period in which there was no employment relationship with this professor or with the “Alicia Alonso” Higher Institute of Dance or with the Rey Juan Carlos University, since he was part of the staff of the Carampa Circus School of the Jugglers Association, which had the delegated powers of practices through the signing of a collaboration agreement dated October 20, 2014. It was in this place where the events judged corroborated in a statement from the Director of Studies, where it also appears that neither the Institute nor the university were notified of the dismissal of this professor and, therefore, neither of its causes.
Activities related to circus practices have never been able to be carried out entirely on the Fuenlabrada Campus as they have told the media, neither before nor now. In the years referred to in the Judgment, the circus practice activities were delegated to the Carampa Circus School of the Jugglers Association, due to lack of adequacy of the university facilities, as stated in the declaration of the Director of Studies from the aforementioned school that was in charge of coordinating the Mention of Acrobatic Dances and Circus Techniques.
For this reason, during the years referred to in the Ruling of the Provincial Court pending resolution by the Supreme Court, for technical reasons of student safety, taking into account that the university did not have facilities on its Campus with adequate security for circus practices, an important part of the teaching, as we have already pointed out, was delegated to the Carampa Circus School which provided its infrastructure and its teaching staff for these purposes, in turn being responsible for the organization and supervision of all the practical academic activities of the aforementioned mention. That is, training in circus practices, as well as other courses, seminars and conferences that students enrolled in said school as students of it, outside of their degree training to accredit obtaining free elective credits that they necessarily had to pass. to obtain the title.
The management of the Institute has carried out a confidential investigation, which is why at no time has it provided information to any media about the events that were the subject of internal investigation and prosecuted due to their strictly confidential nature. It is a duty of all institutions during a procedure of these characteristics to preserve the identity of all parties equally, guaranteeing compliance with their fundamental rights included in the Spanish Constitution. as they are: the presumption of innocence and the right to defense, a process that has been carried out following the legal principles of contradiction and impartiality.
The teacher in question He is hired in 2020 by the Rey Juan Carlos University, and after ending his ties with this Institution, to which he had been linked through an emergency procedure, together with other Carampa teachers to teach in the 2020/2021 academic year, paralyzed by court order. Significantly, it is also in this period and for them that the Head of Studies at Carampa and other of his former classmates from the aforementioned school. However, there is no evidence that they made any complaint during his stay at the university.
At the end of November of this same year he requested to be hired by the “Alicia Alonso” Higher Dance Institute and, we later confirmed, that There had been no complaint at that time, neither administratively nor judicially.. He had no criminal record nor was he registered on the sex offender registry. According to the police statement Head of Studies at the Carampa Circus School, to which the Institute Commission has had access during the investigation, it is clear that the events were investigated in said center and that the results refer only to students of the same.
Neither the Rey Juan Carlos University nor the “Alicia Alonso” Higher Dance Institute were informed of the dismissal of this professor and thereforeAs we have already pointed out at the beginning, nor of its causes. Although in this statement it is said that he was expelled, later in statements to the press he speaks of negotiated exit. It is unknown what the terms of this negotiation were, of which academic institutions were not informed either.
Likewise, we can categorically affirm that no student approached the management of either the university or the Institute to report any incident related to the professor in question and that everything took place within the organizational scope of the Carampa Circus School. According to the complainant, they asked her and her colleagues to “discretion with this matter”. Something that, if true, could only come from the Carampa Circus School which was the one he addressed at all times. Never, Neither the URJC nor the ISDAA were aware of his complaint. It is clear that the aforementioned school failed to comply with its duty to report and prevent as provided in labor legislation and the civil code. After hearing the first instance ruling, he tried to file a complaint, six years later, when the facts had prescribed, according to the Investigating Court no. 5 of Fuenlabrada.
In this context, it is worth reiterating that our Center's policy regarding harassment and abuse is zero tolerance and that there are measures permanently activated to prevent this type of behavior and therefore it is necessary to clarify the following:
The “Alicia Alonso” Higher Dance Institute was not aware of the sentences handed down by the courts against the professor. object of controversy until May 3, 2023 when the Anti-Harassment Commission of the Rey Juan Carlos University transfers file 8/2023 that contained some documents related to the case and the sentence.
However, immediately after becoming aware of the facts, on May 4, the protocol provided for in our regulations was activated with the opening of an information file, a step prior to the initiation of a sanctioning file, if applicable.
The university learned of the First Instance Ruling in the month of February and, although she was obliged to share it with the bodies that came from the “Alicia Alonso” Higher Dance Institute, despite the University Ombudsman's recommendation to report, she did not do so. Her lack of diligence for three months led to breach their duty of prevention, preventing the activation of the prevention protocol, as provided for in labor legislation, in the event of alleged events that could be serious. Fortunately, thanks to the Institute's permanent measures, it has been possible to demonstrate that no inappropriate conduct has occurred on the university facilities.
After receiving the information from the URJC, in less than 24 hours urgent preventive measures were taken, all existing protocols were reinforced, those measures provided for in the Internal Regulations of the Institute regarding the protection of the alleged victims and, preserving the academic interests of students, adopting the following measures:
The continuous evaluations carried out by the professor were immediately closed and an academic tribunal was appointed to agree on the results with the rest of the professors with whom he shared disciplines, before the definitive publication of the report cards, guaranteeing, In addition, the qualification claim processes. Likewise, once the evaluations were completed, the suspension of the teacher's services was ruled on May 31.
In the same way, the coordinator of the Mention of Acrobatic Dances and Circus Techniques was alerted to reinforce surveillance measures in the activities concerning this teacher and to ensure that he was not alone with the students at any time.
Later, through the investigation carried out by the delegate committee of the Board of Directors, it was ruled out that since the beginning of his teaching activity at the end of 2020, anomalous situations could have been occurring on his part. An unlikely issue since the space where classes are taught is open plan and shared by four or five teachers who work on different specialties simultaneously in the same place and with the attendance of an average of thirty students. Consequently, it is practically impossible for situations of misuse of the methodology or inappropriate conduct to occur without being observed by other people and reported, which has not happened so far. However, it was also determined to exclude this professor from the final degree dissertation tribunals.
The permanent alert measures of the ISDAA include the flexibility teacher of the mention of acrobatic and circus dances in her capacity as Safeguarding Officer of the Andalusian Gymnastics Federation for the protection and prevention of harassing behavior or sexual abuse. Because of her contrasted experience as an elite athlete, both from the hierarchy and among equals. The teacher has highlighted in her report that there are no indications of malpractice or inappropriate behavior that would lead to any suspicion in this regard, during her activity at the ISDAA.
It was also possible to verify that during the teacher's provision of services at the “Alicia Alonso” Dance Institute since November 2020, the reported events that occurred in the organizational sphere of the institution have never been reproduced. Carampa Circus School in the period in which he worked as a teacher at that center, from the end of 2014 to February 2017. This point could be corroborated during the course of the expanded Board of Directors, where the degree delegate and subdelegate participated, as well as representatives selected by the students of each of the five mentions of the title, they stated that there had never been any situations of harassment or abuse and no signs of inappropriate behavior on the part of the teacher.
According to information from the University Ombudsman, the Anti-Harassment Commission, the university administration could not become aware of facts that were in judicial proceedings and that any administrative proceedings should be immediately suspended., as reflected in article 16.6 of the URJC Anti-Harassment Protocol. We do not know why the university began and continued the investigation of file 8/2023, which was also sent to us three months late.
The “Alicia Alonso” Higher Dance Institute does not rule out taking new legal actions against third parties.
Press Team
