Many of her students were diagnosed with mental health problems including anxiety and depression.
An associate professor at a Beijing university has been suspended from teaching after being accused of exploiting her students. According to the South China Morning Post, Zheng Feng, who works at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT), is being criticised on social media after shocking details of her treatment of University students emerged online.
The incident came to light last month after an open letter by 15 students at BUPT went viral on Chinese social media. In the 23-page open letter, students accused Feng of forcing them to perform a series of menial tasks, instead of giving them research guidance. The students said the professor made them buy her breakfast, clean her flat, pick up deliveries, drive her friends and family and help her daughter with homework and tests.
She also kept students in the laboratory for more than 10 hours a day including during their holidays and expected them to attend meetings after 10 pm every night. Further, she threatened them that she would kick them out of their research projects if they complained. She also withheld most of the money students were supposed to receive for interning at a local enterprise.
The situation got so bad that many of her students were diagnosed with mental health problems including anxiety and depression.
''Teacher Zheng Feng treats us like slaves. More things unrelated to academic research are taking up our time, accompanied by endless insults and verbal abuse,'' the open letter said.
After the letter went viral, the university disqualified Zheng from tutoring and offered psychological counselling to affected students.
The shocking case has sparked widespread outrage in China, with many talking about the unequal power dynamics between university tutors and students.
''Such experience looks so familiar to me. Even though I graduated almost a year ago, reading this makes me feel sick,'' one user wrote. Another said, ''Tutors have too much power. When will this change?''
Notably, this is not an isolated case. In the past, several professors have been accused of exploiting their students and treating them like personal assistants
.