(New York) Three doctoral students filed a lawsuit against Harvard on Tuesday, accusing the American university of ignoring their reports of alleged sexual harassment perpetrated by a professor.
Posted at 7:09 p.m.
The 65-page civil complaint filed in federal court in Boston and seen by AFP accuses anthropology professor John Comaroff, 77, of “using his power and his pedestal for years at Harvard to exploit apprentice researchers”.
“He kissed and fondled female students without their consent and threatened to sabotage their careers if they complained,” says the complaint from Margaret Czerwienski, Lilia Kilburn and Amulya Mandava, whose story was first told by the New York on Tuesday. Times (NYT).
For five years, the three women have repeatedly reported the facts to the Harvard administration, but the university has treated them with “deliberate indifference”, they accuse in their court document.
In great detail, the complaint recounts, for example, that the professor “repeatedly forcibly kissed Mher Kilburn, groped her in public and spoke out loud about her “imaginary rape and murder” if she had same-sex relationships in certain countries in Africa.
Regarding “M.girls Czerwienski and Mandava, Professor Comaroff felt authorized to threaten them, smear their reputations and disrupt their careers”.
The complaint “targets an abuse of power” and targets Harvard University, “one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world” and its president. Before a possible civil trial, the plaintiffs claim financial compensation of an unknown amount.
Although the plaintiffs accuse Harvard of having long ignored their allegations, their complaint acknowledges that a “Harvard committee which examined the atmosphere of the anthropology department has just concluded that there was a “sexist and misogynistic” atmosphere there. […] in a predominantly white, male faculty.
According to the New York Times, the facts began to be made public a year ago in the Harvard Journal. The professor was then put on leave and an internal investigation concluded that he had been guilty of verbal harassment.
He should not be able to teach next year according to the daily, which specifies that the university has not accused him of sexual harassment or assault.
His lawyers, interviewed by the newspaper, said in a statement that their client “categorically” denied the accusations of the students.
Harvard University, Massachusetts, did not respond to requests from AFP.