The Paper's reporter Cheng Qianqian compiled
Recently, Harvard University has been caught in a storm. Three female graduate students are suing Harvard University for failing to take action on sexual harassment of its faculty and staff by a prominent anthropology professor.
The professor has been repeatedly complained about for five years, but Harvard has been slow to investigate
The lawsuit, filed Feb. 8 in federal court in Massachusetts, focuses on John Comaroff, an anthropology professor whose research focuses on Africans and African Americans. Last month, Harvard University took Komarov on unpaid administrative leave. According to the student newspaper The Harvard Crimson, he was taken on paid leave in August 2020.
Three Harvard graduate students filed the lawsuit
Nearly five years ago, three graduate students in his department — Lilia Kilburn, Margaret Czerwienski and Amulya Mandava — began complaining about being harassed by him. But lawyers for three students said the school did not admit Komarov's worst crimes, even if Komarov was given unpaid leave.
In an investigation, Harvard concluded that Komarov "engaged in verbal conduct that violated the FAS (College of Arts and Sciences) sexual and gender-based harassment policy and the FAS Professional Conduct Policy." According to the Harvard Crimson Newspaper, Claudine Gay, dean of the School of Science, said in an email. The findings came from a review conducted by harvard's Dispute Resolution Office and external fact-investigators.
Harvard university did not find Komarov responsible for involuntary sexual contact, which was described as "rampant" in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the three women: "He kissed and touched students without their consent, engaged in unwelcome sexual assault, and threatened that if students complained, he would sabotage their careers."
Komarov's lawyer said in a statement that Komarov "categorically denies ever harassing or retaliating against any student." Harvard university did not publicly release most of its findings and declined to comment on the lawsuit.
John Komarov, a professor of anthropology at Harvard University who was accused of sexual harassment
Lawyers for three students said Komarov's misconduct toward Kilburn began before Kilburn enrolled in 2017, when she went to Harvard to visit the campus and he kissed her on the mouth. The indictment says Cherwinsky and Mandava reported Komarov's misconduct to other students to the school, only to have him threaten their future job prospects.
All three students said they filed complaints against Komarov with Officials of Harvard's Education Law Amendment IX — Chelwinsky and Mandava in 2017 and Kilbern in 2019. These officers are responsible for handling complaints of gender discrimination. The lawsuit said Harvard showed "deliberate indifference" to the complaints, dragging on for more than a year before starting its investigation in 2020.
Nearly a hundred scholars signed in support of the professor, but the lawsuit was filed and the signatures were withdrawn
Much of the focus came from an incident Kilburn met Komarov on his first day of graduate school, when Komarov became her mentor and expressed to him her desire to study in Central Africa.
"During the meeting, Professor Komarov repeatedly described the various ways in which Ms. Kilburn would be raped and killed in South Africa, about 3,000 miles from Central Africa, simply because she was in a same-sex relationship," the lawsuit said. ”
According to The New York Times, Kilburn recalled in an interview how Professor Komarov talked about how she could be "corrected sexually raped" or even killed if she were seen with her same-sex partner in some parts of Africa. But he said it with "a tone of enjoyment," Kilburn said, "and it's not normal office hours advice." ”
Komarov's lawyers acknowledged that Komarov had spoken with Gilburn about fieldwork abroad while traveling with her same-sex partner, but said, "It is necessary to discuss the risks of sexual violence for her safety." ”
His lawyers lashed out at Harvard's investigation for finding that the proposal constituted a conclusion of sexual harassment, which they said was motivated by considerations for her personal safety.
In the statement, Komarov's lawyer questioned the logic of the sanctions. The investigation "found that his motives were motivated solely by concern for Ms Gilburne's health and without any romantic or sexual intent, but that his recommendations still constitute sexual harassment," the statement said, "Professor Komarov strongly rejects this conclusion, as it would weaken the faculty and staff's ability to advise students on fundamental safety issues using best academic judgment." ”
The controversy caused disagreement among the entire Harvard faculty. In the days leading up to the lawsuit, more than 90 academics at Harvard and other universities around the world signed open letters defending Komarov's personality and praising his reputation and academic prowess.
Among the signatories from Harvard university are the prominent scholar Paul Farmer, a physician and anthropologist known for his rescue efforts after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti; Henry Louis Gates Jr., professor and director of the Center for African-American Studies; Stephen Greenblatt, a Shakespearean scholar; and historian Jill Lepore), and law professor Randall Kennedy.
In their letter, they stated that Dr. Komarov's discussion of rape was a reasonable warning of the situation in the area where Ms. Kilburn would be conducting a field investigation. The signers were "confused" by her objections because they "would also feel morally compelled to offer the same advice".
They also disputed Harvard's decision to conduct two investigations. The letter said that this would expose Komarov to a double danger. "As faculty members," the letter adds, "we must understand the rules and procedures we follow." ”
On the evening of Feb. 7, on the eve of the lawsuit, about 50 or so Harvard scholars— most of whom hold tenured faculty positions — criticized Mr. Komarov's supporters for being too quick to accept his lawyer's rhetoric.
"It is clear from the letters that support him that Professor Komarov is a scholar with a strong network of contacts, which may prevent other students from coming forward," the letter said. ”
And on Feb. 9, the day after the lawsuit was filed, most of Harvard's faculty members who initially supported Komarov changed sides, including Gates, Lepatra, Farmer, and Greenblatt, and issued a new letter expressing their withdrawal of support.
Ingrid Monson, a professor of African-American music, said: "It was with horror that we read more details about the experiences of these students, and after discussion, we wanted to withdraw the signature from the previous open letter."
The lawsuit points to Harvard's improper investigation and even access to medical records
The lawsuit alleges that Harvard university allowed Komarov to act unchecked on Kilburn for two years, "leaving Ms. Kilburn with persistent nightmares, including more forced kisses, molestations, constant invitations to socialize alone outside of school, and coercive control." The lawsuit goes on to write that when she tried to avoid him, he barred her from working with any other advisers.
Komarov, through his lawyer, said he had not banned Kilburn from working with anyone and said he had not kissed or touched her at any time.
When Kilburn filed the lawsuit in May 2019, the office "did not take any meaningful action — other than to acknowledge that Harvard university knew about Professor Komarov's actions years ago." The lawsuit continues.
Carolin Guentert, one of the three graduate students' attorneys, said the purpose of the lawsuit was to show the extent to which Komarov was accused of sexual assault, which she said the Harvard investigation failed to do. As for the section of the Harvard survey about Kilburn, she said focusing only on verbal sexism is "indeed a pretty narrow finding." ”
"It really ignores the larger context of kissing, indecency and harassment." Guterte said.
Harvard also places an undue burden on students to report sexual harassment, she said. The lawsuit alleges that until 2020, when the Harvard Crimson and The Chronicle of Higher Education began reporting on the allegations, Harvard did not take the initiative to discipline or even investigate. Even so, the indictment said, the investigation initially allowed Komarov to continue teaching "after receiving a minor punishment."
The lawsuit says the university also blocked efforts by two other plaintiffs, Chelwinsky and Mandava, to block Komarov's efforts — in 2017, they learned that a second-year graduate student had been accused of unnecessary sexual assault. When they reported the incident, Komarov told them they would have a "hard time finding work" if they continued to make such allegations, the complaint said.
Komarov's lawyer said Komarov never threatened the students.
The most shocking allegations in the lawsuit also include that Harvard obtained her medical records from her therapist without Kilburn's consent and shared them with Professor Komarov. (In a statement, Harvard denied improperly obtaining records and defended sharing them as part of its investigation.) ）
In this regard, the media and the public want to know more details to understand how this all happened. Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at Tufts University, wrote in a washington post commentary: "I know that universities that used to rely more on trust programs now have more formal ways to adjudicate allegations of sexual harassment and abuse of power. Unfortunately, I now know that the loss of public trust in institutions like Harvard is not unfounded. ”
Attorney Gutert said she hopes the lawsuit will change the reporting process at universities and colleges.
"The lawsuit highlights how much influence graduate supervisors have on graduate students. Some people use it to do good, but some people don't. This has been a problem for many years. She said.
"Our customers want to make a difference in this. They want to make sure that when students make allegations of sexual harassment, the school takes them seriously and doesn't force them to go through an unusually onerous advocacy process. ”
Editor-in-Charge: Liang Jia
Proofreader: Luan Meng