SINGAPORE - The Yale-NUS student who was charged in court on Tuesday (Oct 1) with taking upskirt videos of women and filming them showering on campus has been suspended indefinitely since March.
"Brandon Lee Bing Xiang was from the Class of 2020 and was president of the Yale-NUS Student Government from August 2017 to August 2018," the liberal arts college said on Friday. "He was immediately suspended the day after the college was notified about the incident in March 2019."
The college said that it is reviewing the case and it will mete out appropriate disciplinary actions based on the evidence on hand.
"(Lee) is on indefinite suspension during the investigation and disciplinary process," it said.
The 26-year-old allegedly used a smartphone to film at least four women, and faces 24 counts of intruding on a woman's privacy to insult her modesty.
Court documents say the offences took place between August 2017 and March 3 this year. Lee is alleged to have used his iPhone to film women showering in the dormitory by placing the phone above the cubicle doors. The upskirt offences took place in classrooms.
There were multiple victims and not all have been identified.
Professor Joanne Roberts, executive vice-president of academic affairs at Yale-NUS College, said on Thursday that the college has contacted the affected female students to render support.
She added that the college takes a serious view of allegations of sexual misconduct and has in place a process to address such matters, as well as support systems to ensure the psychological well-being of students.
When cases of sexual misconduct are formally reported to the college, an investigation is conducted and disciplinary action meted out where appropriate, she said.
Security measures are also in place to protect students on campus, she added.
Students can report sexual misconduct incidents to their residential college adviser, a senior student who mentors and supports first-year students.
They can also report an incident to their residential college's dean's fellows, rectors and assistant deans, said Prof Roberts.
There is also a full-time staff member in the dean of students' office, whose responsibilities include overseeing these processes, she said.
Affected students also have access to an on-campus counselling support network that comprises psychologists, counselling centre staff and residential staff.
In May this year, the National University of Singapore announced that it has increased the number of security guards at hostels, will be adding hundreds of closed-circuit television cameras, and will better secure toilets and shower cubicles.
These measures came after the NUS came under fire for how it handled sexual offences involving its students. In April, undergraduate Monica Baey, 23, took to social media to express her frustration after she was filmed showering in Eusoff Hall by fellow student Nicholas Lim, also 23.
Information on Lee online showed that he was among the first batch of 20 Singapore Sports School student-athletes on the through-train Republic Polytechnic-Singapore Sports School Diploma in Sports and Leisure Management programme. He graduated in May 2014 with a 3.94 grade point average and received the Yale-NUS Dean's Scholarship (Philosophy, Politics and Economics).
He started his tertiary education at Yale-NUS in 2016 after completing national service.
He also represented Singapore at the 2009 Asian Youth Games held here and won a silver and a bronze in bowling events.
Lee returns to court on Oct 22.
For each charge of insulting a woman's modesty, offenders can be jailed for up to a year and fined.
