March 4, 2022
Yoshiaki Terumichi
President of Sophia University


Sophia School Corporation has dismissed Professor Michio Hayashi of the Department of Liberal Arts, Faculty of Liberal Arts as of February 28, 2022.

The abovementioned professor has been acknowledged to have had an inappropriate relationship with a student (at the time of misconduct), a deviant act constituting an unethical departure from an educator bearing the high moral values expected at Sophia University and serving as a model to our students.

With serious consideration of this fact, we would like to extend our sincere apologies and determination to exert our fullest efforts to prevent recurrence.

At Sophia University, we have strongly encouraged our faculty and staff to renew their self-awareness as educators and engage in the following measures.

We cannot create and safe and secure campus without a firm relationship of trust among our students and faculty.

With strong determination, we are committed to create an educational environment where all campus members, from diverse backgrounds, can respect each other and strive together toward their goals.

■Measures to create a safe and secure campus

(1) Enhanced student consultation

From April 2022, we will build an environment that facilitates student consultations by integrating the Counselling Center, Health Center and Student Center into a “Wellness Center,” thus creating a student support system that is more strongly aligned with specialists.

Consultation procedures and access to consultations will remain unchanged. We have given careful consideration to securing, as before, a way for students to be able to consult in in privacy.

In addition, we will gradually increase the number of consultants at the Wellness Center and work toward enhancing our consultation system.


(2) Questionnaire survey

From January through February 2022, Sophia University conducted an awareness survey on students’ views of the university’s consultation system.

We are currently analyzing the results and will seek to enhance our consultation system and training program based on the opinions received.

We will continue to conduct such surveys in the future to understand the status quo and draw upon the results to create an even safer and more secure campus.


(3) Enhancement of training programs and awareness-raising activities

In order to create a safe and secure campus, we have offered various training programs for our faculty and staff. We seek to continue such activities to raise awareness and enhance moral values.

Furthermore, we will continue our efforts in providing information to and raising awareness among students through guidance sessions and leaflets targeted at students. We are already engaging in the production a video through collaboration among a student organization, faculty and staff to show during the orientation period in the new academic year.

We are determined to continue to reflect the views of our students, faculty and staff on our activities to create a safe and secure campus.