CommentsHERE’S WHAT I KNOW-On the heels of a rash of recent sexual conduct allegations at UC Berkeley, UC President Janet Napolitano has announced new steps to closely monitor the university’s response, following opposition from many in the UC Berkeley community who feel the administration has been light-handed in its sanctions against prominent faculty members accused of sexually harassing students and staff.
The alleged mishandling of sexual harassment cases isn’t new at Berkeley; in 2014, thirty-one women filed a complaint that administrators had been mishandling cases for decades.
As of April 1, UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks will be meeting with Napolitano once a month and has agreed to provide written reports to her office detailing progress to combat sexual misconduct on campus. In addition, Jody Shipper, the system-wide director for sexual misconduct issues, will be working directly with Berkeley at least until the end of the semester to ensure that any complaints are investigated quickly and equitably. Chancellor Dirks, said Napolitano in a statement, “agrees that these issues demand concentrated, effective measures.”
Napolitano stepped in following weeks of campus protests that Dirks and Provost Claude Steele have bumbled allegations involving law school Dean Sujit Choudhry, astronomer Geoff Marcy, and vice chancellor of research Graham Fleming. All three faculty members resigned under pressure after they were found to have violated UC’s sexual harassment policies.
The Choudhry case has elicited a strong response from students, faculty, and staff after Dirks and Steele had permitted the dean to stay in his job with a ten percent pay cut with conditions that he attend counseling and apologize to his executive assistant Tyann Sorrell, who is suing Choudry and the regents for their failure to take steps to protect her. She alleges Choudhry subject her almost daily to kisses, hugs, and touching during a six-month period last year. The former dean does not deny his behavior but says it happened less frequently than Sorrell alleges.
It was the Choudhry case that prompted Napolitano to step in, ordering Dirks to refer the former dean to the Academic Senate for disciplinary hearings and to keep him off campus. Napolitano also insisted Fleming would be removed from his campus global ambassador” position.
Assistant men’s basketball coach Yann Hufnagel was recently fired when campus officials discovered he has sexually harassed a reporter, sending her explicit and threatening text messages. Campus officials are now looking into Head Coach Cuonzo Martin’s handling of the case.
In addition to Napolitano’s engagement, Dirks has released a new plan that will include speedier investigations, more resources directed at counseling and victim services, expanded education and training, and a review committee to ensure “firm and consistent” sanctions without regard to the rank or position or “either the complainant or respondent.”
Until a permanent coordinator is hired this summer, history professor and executive dean of the College of Letters & Science Carla Hesse will be heading the improvement efforts.
Napolitano has been spearheading the efforts to address sexual misconduct throughout the UC 10 campus system since taking over as president in 2013, establishing a system-wide task force, which addressed such issues as education, training, counseling, and data collection. She also instituted a successful program hiring “confidential advocates” at each campus to help victims navigate the reporting system.
Students, faculty, and staff throughout the UC system should have the expectation that their academic and professional environment be free from the threat of sexual misconduct and harassment. The status or rank of the alleged victim or the accused should not mitigate the recourse or sanctions. Hopefully, with the cooperation of administration and the oversight of UC President Napolitano, the campus will provide a safe environment for everyone involved.
(Beth Cone Kramer is a successful Los Angeles writer and a columnist for CityWatch.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
