For five years, they have repeatedly reported the facts to the Harvard administration, but the prestigious establishment has treated them with “deliberate indifference”, they accuse in their legal document.
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The university treated them with a “deliberate indifference”. Three women doctoral students filed a complaint for “abuse of power”, Tuesday, February 8, against Harvard and its president. They accuse the prestigious American university of having ignored their reports of alleged acts of sexual harassment perpetrated by a prominent professor. Before a possible civil trial, the plaintiffs claim financial compensation of an unknown amount.
The 65-page civil complaint, filed in federal court in Boston, accuses anthropology professor John Comaroff, 77, of “having used 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”denounces the complaint of Margaret Czerwienski, Lilia Kilburn and Amulya Mandava, whose story was first told on Tuesday by the New York Times.
In great detail, the complaint recounts, for example, that the professor “repeatedly forcibly kissed Miss Kilburn, groped her in public and spoke aloud about her rape and murder” imaginary if she had same-sex relationships in certain African countries. Regarding “Miss Czerwienski and Mandava, Professor Comaroff felt empowered to threaten them, smear their reputations and disrupt their careers”.
However, while the plaintiffs accuse Harvard of having ignored their allegations for a long time, their complaint acknowledges that a “Harvard committee that examined the atmosphere of the anthropology department has just concluded that there is a ‘sexist and misogynistic atmosphere … in a predominantly white and 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, questioned by the newspaper, indicated in a press release that their client denied “categorically” student accusations.