Students to sue UC Berkeley professor for sexual harassment, take on university for inaction
University records from October suggested that a probe team found the professor guilty of violating the college’s harassment policies.
At least seven graduate students of University of California at Berkeley have alleged that they were sexually harassed by their professor in the department of south and south-east Asian studies, reported The Guardian. The professor’s conduct was first flagged by Kathleen Gutierrez, and at least six other students have come forward since then revealing similar experiences with the professor. Guitierrez and another student have decided to sue the professor for sexual harassment, as well as the University for failing to take action against him.
Gutierrez alleged that Professor Blake Wentworth touched her inappropriately, made frequent offensive comments such as “I’m so attracted to you” and gave her explicit details on his drug use with a stripper. University records from October suggested that a probe team found the professor guilty of violating the college’s harassment policies. Though the report said Wentworth made “unwelcome sexual advances” towards the student, no action has been taken against him so far.
The University has been marred with cases of sexual harassment in the recent past. Last week, the University released records that stated that 19 of its faculty members were found guilty of misconduct. Although 11 of them have resigned, the administration has yet to fire anyone for such violations.
The dean of the University’s law school, Sujit Choudhry, stepped down from his post in March after his former assistant alleged that he sexually harassed her during her employment. Before that, a prominent UC Berkeley astronomer, Geoffrey Marcy, resigned in October 2015 after it came to light that he had repeatedly sexually harassed students.