Content warning: descriptions of physical and gender-based abuse.
In August 2022, University of Michigan alum Sophie Zhang filed a complaint to the Equity, Civil Rights, & Title IX Office (ECRT). She alleged that her father, Youxue Zhang, a professor in the University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, abused her on the basis of her identity as a transgender woman.
In her complaint, Sophie described two instances in which Prof. Zhang engaged in abusive conduct toward her, with one occurrence on U-M property while Sophie was an undergraduate student. She argued that Prof. Zhang’s abuse constituted misconduct under U-M policy.
Sophie’s complaint was dismissed two days later by Elizabeth Seney, ECRT’s director of sexual and gender-based misconduct and Title IX coordinator, according to emails obtained by The Michigan Daily. Seney stated that ECRT would not investigate the matter further.
A year prior, Sophie spoke of the abuse she faced as a transgender woman in an interview with the MIT Technology Review. Prof. Zhang denied the allegations against him at the time. His name was not revealed in the article.
The article came out while Sophie was the subject of international media attention for exposing widespread usage of fake Facebook accounts by multiple countries’ governments in 2020.
In an interview with The Daily, Sophie alleged Prof. Zhang physically abused her when she was a child on the basis of her gender identity. She alleged that, in 2010, when she was an undergraduate student at the University, Prof. Zhang disowned her after she told him she intended to transition.
In an email to The Daily, Prof. Zhang admitted to engaging in physical abuse against Sophie in one instance in 2004 and disowning her in 2010. He denied that his actions were based on her gender identity.
“I admit that one time I did lose my temper and hit (Sophie) in 2004, but not for (her) transgender identity,” Prof. Zhang wrote. “To all of my family, students, colleagues, and friends: I apologize that I let you down.”
Prof. Zhang said he was not contacted by ECRT or U-M administrators about Sophie’s complaint.
Prof. Zhang has taught at the University since September 1991, and has held a tenured position since May 1997, according to records available on the University’s Board of Regents website.
Speaking on behalf of the University, spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald explained that grievances between family members may not qualify as misconduct under U-M policy. He declined to comment on the specific allegations against Prof. Zhang.
“It is U-M policy to neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation into any form of misconduct,” Fitzgerald wrote. “A matter involving family members may or may not fall within the scope of the university’s policy. If a matter arises solely in the context of family interactions, the university does not have much ability to address the matter under U-M policy.”
‘I was panicked and terrified … looking for an escape’
Sophie’s family moved to Ann Arbor when she was a few months old. In an interview with The Daily, she described how she questioned her gender identity from a young age.
“I was 5 or 6 at the time,” Sophie said, “For me, it was basically something I always knew in the back of my head.”
As Sophie continued to discover her gender identity, she feared what might happen if her father found out.
“I knew from the start … that (Prof. Zhang) would react violently and angrily if he found out,” Sophie said. “And he did find out when I was 13.”
One night, in the spring of 2004, when Sophie was in eighth grade, her father found out she was transgender. She said she felt threatened, and locked herself in the bathroom out of fear.
While her father allegedly tried to force his way in, Sophie considered running away.
“It had rained not too long ago, and I remember that because I remember thinking that the ground was soft outside,” Sophie said. “I pried out the window screen, because I was considering jumping out of it … I would probably have broken my leg. But I was panicked and terrified, and looking for an escape.”
Sophie alleged her father yelled threats and attempted to break down the door. Fearing what would happen if her father got to her, she contemplated her options.
“I sat there staring out the window for a few moments trying to … decide whether or not it was actually a good idea to jump out the window,” Sophie said. “Eventually, I came to the conclusion that it would be preferable for me to stay in an abusive household rather than end up homeless.”
Sophie opened the door. She alleged her father dragged her into the guest bedroom next door and beat her, first with a belt and then with his bare hands.
“He began beating me repeatedly,” Sophie said. “(He was) yelling threats and insults … He continued until he was exhausted. I was covered with bruises and blood.”
Sophie later described this incident as “an impromptu form of conversion therapy” in her complaint to ECRT.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a family member who was present in the house at the time confirmed Sophie’s account of this incident in an interview with The Daily.
The Daily also contacted a classmate of hers, who verified that Sophie came to school with bruises the next day. This source told The Daily that Sophie described the abuse to them at the time.
In the 2021 MIT Technology Review article, Prof. Zhang denied that the incident occurred.
“When reached by email, (Sophie’s) father denied the allegations,” the article said. “‘I am sad that she alleges that I beat her as a child after I discovered her transgender identity, which is completely false,’ (Prof. Zhang) wrote.”
In an email to The Daily, Prof. Zhang admitted to engaging in physical abuse against Sophie in 2004. He denied targeting Sophie for her gender identity but did not elaborate on the circumstances of the incident.
‘He could no longer be my father’
After the 2004 incident, Sophie said she hid her transgender identity, fearing further abuse from her father. She decided to transition a few years later, but waited until she was financially independent to inform her parents of her decision. She told The Daily she feared her father would cut her off financially when she came out.
In the fall of 2010, while an undergraduate student at the University, Sophie told her father in an email that she planned to transition. Prof. Zhang told The Daily he recalled receiving this email.
Sophie recalled arranging a meeting with her father in his office on campus in the North University Building. During this meeting, Prof. Zhang disowned Sophie and allegedly made offensive comments targeting her gender identity.
“(My father) gave me an ultimatum: that if I continue down this terrible, self-destructive route, he could no longer be my father,” Sophie said. “He’s not disowning me, he explains. Rather, I’m disowning myself, because I’m rejecting the very name, the body, the identity and life he made for me.”
Sophie alleged Prof. Zhang went on to make insensitive comments about transgender people. She said he warned her that “everyone would be forever suspicious and disgusted (by her)” if she transitioned.
A family member of Sophie’s told The Daily they heard about this meeting from both Sophie and Prof. Zhang soon after it occurred, and confirmed Sophie’s account.
In his email to The Daily, Youxue Zhang admitted to disowning his daughter in 2010, but did not say where this conversation occurred.
“I apologize to (Sophie) for the 2004 hitting and 2010 disowning you (sic),” Prof. Zhang wrote. “I only learned their transgender identity in November of 2010 when they sent an email to me. I was shocked at the time. I did not handle it well and lost them.”
Prof. Zhang did not comment on the allegations that he made insensitive comments about transgender identities during this meeting.
‘Professor Zhang chose to go beyond … threats of violence and commit it directly’
Sophie cut off contact with her father after their 2010 meeting. She initially decided not to report the incident or the one in 2004 to the University, citing a desire to move on. When she spoke to the MIT Technology Review in 2021, she identified her father as her abuser but did not reveal his name or his position as a U-M professor.
After becoming a public figure in 2020, Sophie said some of her relatives and friends in Ann Arbor reached out to her. She told The Daily she learned her father may have engaged in abusive conduct with others, and decided to report her own experiences to ECRT. The Daily is currently investigating whether there have been other allegations of misconduct against Prof. Zhang.
“I was contacted by a lot of people, including friends I had fallen out of touch with,” Sophie said. “It was related to me in passing that my father has had other victims. I’m not going to go into the details, because that’s the story of others to tell.”
In an email to ECRT on Aug. 3, 2022, Sophie described Prof. Zhang’s abuse. She wrote that she was a U-M student when Prof. Zhang disowned her in 2010, and specified that the incident occurred in his office on campus. The Daily has obtained copies of this email correspondence.
“In late 2010 when I was a student at the University of Michigan, Professor Zhang formally disowned me for being transgender,” Sophie wrote. “This took place in his office in the Geology Department … This gender-based harassment created a deeply hostile environment at the University for myself as a U-M student.”
Sophie also wrote that she had spoken with Seney and ECRT Senior Investigator Sabrinne Gibson several times throughout 2022. She claimed they told her Prof. Zhang’s alleged abuse was not relevant to the misconduct policies handled by ECRT. Seney and Gibson did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Seney responded to Sophie’s complaint two days later, dismissing it.
“I, Elizabeth Seney, Title IX Coordinator, dismiss the Formal Complaint that Complainant Sophie Zhang submitted to initiate an investigation regarding allegations that Respondent Youxue Zhang engaged in Prohibited Conduct toward Complainant,” Seney wrote.
Seney’s response stated that the alleged conduct did not fall within the scope of University policy.
“The conduct alleged in the Formal Complaint does not constitute Prohibited Conduct/did not occur within the scope of the Policy,” Seney’s response said. “The conduct alleged in the Formal Complaint did not occur in a University Program or Activity.”
According to U-M policy on gender-based misconduct, the policy applies to misconduct committed against students “on campus or other property owned or controlled by the University.”
“(Prof. Zhang’s) actions clearly fall under the definition of gender-based harassment in the University policy, which includes ‘Threats of violence toward an individual based on their actual or perceived identity,’” Sophie wrote in her complaint. “In this case, Professor Zhang chose to go beyond the threats of violence and commit it directly.”
In his email to The Daily, Prof. Zhang said he was not previously aware of the August 2022 complaint Sophie submitted. When asked if any disciplinary actions have been taken by U-M administration, he wrote “None.”
Sophie told The Daily she hasn’t heard from the University since ECRT dismissed her case in August 2022.
“It wasn’t my preference to come forward like this,” Sophie said. “But I think it’s important to do so. Because, if nothing else, I think I’ve spent my entire life running away from my father … I do feel that it is my responsibility to stop my father from hurting more people, if no one else will.”
Managing Focal Point Editor Julian Wray can be reached at jwray@umich.edu. Focal Point Reporter Sarah Akaaboune contributed reporting to this article.
Information relevant to this or any other story can be emailed to tipline@michigandaily.com.