Rector: Penkowa student should have been helped

New procedures are needed, says Ralf Hemmingsen on KUnet, after student assistant was victimised in Penkowa case

by Mike Young

A student assistant who was made into a scapegoat for brain scientist Milena Penkowa's fraud, should have received more help. This is now admitted by Rector Ralf Hemmingsen in a release on both the Danish and English-language KUnet (needs log-in), which also places the blame on slow police work.

»The process surrounding Penkowa's criminal case has shown us clearly that we have to look into the procedures for student inquiries on injustices from a staff member. The student is the weaker party here, and we MUST be able to handle this, even though the police work slowly, as they have done in this case,« says Ralf Hemmingsen.

In one of several cases, Milena Penkowa is convicted of the embezzlement of DKK 28,000, forgery of documents and a false accusation against her student assistant.

Had to ask police three times

University management sent out a release Tuesday saying that they regret the treatment of the student assistant Kristian Kolind, but media sources maintain that the university could have done more.

In the latest release, Rector maintains that the university administration, although it knew about the case, was not able to take action against Penkowa for administrative and legal reasons.

»The police is obligated to tell the employer if a member of staff is charged. We had not heard about the case when the student made his inquiry to us. Unfortunately we had to ask for the details of the case three times,« Rektor Ralf Hemmingsen says in the release.

miy@adm.ku.dk

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