When her turn came, Carine Doutrelepont, a lawyer at UCLouvain, first denounced the confusion and inaccuracies in her colleague’s account. “It is wrong to say that UCLouvain has done nothing”she said in particular.
But in the end, the university lawyer did not dwell too much on what UCLouvain has really put in place. She rather tried to dismantle the accusations, by attacking the complainant herself: Caroline Nieberding would be a woman in need of recognition, who would not have supported certain decisions that were unfavorable to her.
For the lawyer of the university, the professor is not exempt from any reproach in this business. By maintaining bad relations with her colleagues, with the administrative and technical staff, and even sometimes with students, she would also be responsible for the climate that reigns within the institute.
Can this conflictual climate nevertheless be considered as harassment? No, according to Carine Doutrelepont, who evokes “a feeling”, “a suffering”. According to her, the complainant improperly presents herself as the victim of a system when she herself inflicted violence on her professional entourage. And filing a complaint does not mean that we are right.
As for the disciplinary procedure, the university says it respects the internal regulations and stresses that this procedure is also an opportunity for Professor Nieberding to come and explain the accusations she is making.