Academic Scandals: Sexual Misconduct
There’s no shortage of stories in this category because academics are people.
That’s no excuse. We just mean they commit sexual offenses just about as often
as others.
Tit for Tat
Sex-for-grades is a definitive no-no. In fact, anything for grades is a
definitive no-no. In spite o the
massive amount of worthless indoctrination our universities shove down our
throats, we don’t require ethical and sexual harassment training to know that.
In this case, a controversial Pro-Hamas professor drew attention to himself
following the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks that killed about 1,200
Israelis. As with Harvard president Claudine Gray’s remarks about antisemitism
that led people to begin wondering if her scholarly work was as original as she
claimed, this fellow should have known that his past would resurface. He had
been the subject of an investigation a couple of decades earlier at Columbia in
which he began an affair with a graduate student, exchanging grades for sex. He
had formerly been Iran’s ambassador to the UN and claimed diplomatic immunity,
but that doesn’t last forever. Fortunately Oberlin, with the help of some
anti-regime Iranians, suspended the guy.
https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/65310/anti-semite-professor-accused-of-sex-for-grades
Nobel Behavior
It
didn’t take long after the announcement of a Nobel Prize in economics for former
students to come forward and assert that the distinguished economist at
Washington University in St. Louis had gotten a bit too friendly with some
students. He’s alleged to have had an affinity for Chinese females, who set out
to warn each other. Taking the matter seriously, that distinguished midwestern
university launched an investigation and, as usual, released no further
information, Let us know if you hear anything. Read the story here. We must add
that when the distinguished news agency Bloomberg decides that getting too
friendly with students was newsworthy on their platform, we are a bit shocked.
Teacher-Student Sex. Never a Good
Idea. Even in the Ivy League
We’re pretty sure it happens more often than you’d think. But in the Ivies?
Aren’t they all about education? Ha. The world’s greatest scholars and
students fool around as much as they do anywhere else. Apparently in 1995 the
University of Pennsylvania established a policy prohibiting sex between
professors and students, during the period of the teacher-student relationship.
So prior to 1995, it was free love for all at Penn, which suggests the great
university might have been inspired by its philandering founder, Benjamin
Franklin. This case occurred in 2017 and involved a tenured department chair in
psychology. Interestingly, the course was called “Human Morality and Emotions,”
giving whole new meaning to the sub-field of “experimental psychology.” It was
never clear what, if any, action Penn took, but it subsequently banned all
relationships between faculty and students, whether the former was teaching the
latter or not. Probably a good idea. Especially in the Ivy League. Let’s hope
Franklin would have agree, but we’re not sure.
Pimping Out
Well, it’s not often you hear those words used to describe a professor’s
relationship with students. But accusations from several students that three
professors at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New
York raised, or lowered the bar, to that level. The charges not only included
groping, rape, drugs, but encouraging students to have sex with faculty
colleagues. We’re not sure what the code of conduct is at a college of criminal
justice, but we suspect it doesn’t permit the above. The professors deny the
charges, but the president did agree that the behavior was unacceptable. It’s
not clear with the school ever did about it.
https://nypost.com/2020/09/26/john-jay-professors-named-in-sex-and-drug-scandal-still-on-payroll/
The Tallahassee Trifecta
Florida State University dealt with three major cases involving professors
behaving badly with students. So, in one case the professor was the director of
the Family Institute, which studies how to have healthier environments for
children. We are not making this up. This professor also had published a paper
on divine forgiveness. We’re not sure if he asked for it. Another professor, a
microbiologist holding an endowed chair, sent an erotic email to a student.
We’re kinda thinking no professor who believes that an erotic email that is
intended to be private should be on a university faculty. The third, a music
professor, had had sex with students, though it is not clear if the encounters
were harmonious.
Get these Rapists off the Faculty
Rape
is a dammed serious thing and deserves to be addressed by not only the law but
by the university. Fortunately, the University of California at Davis did just
that to this chemical engineering professor. It seems that the victim was a high
school student!
https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/statement-ting-guo
Give me Liberty
Abduction by force seems to run at odds with a school named Liberty. This
professor of English who teaches American Sign Language was accused of doing
that as well as sexual battery. The article, however, adds a reference to many
women complaining about sexual misbehavior and being ignored by the university.
Definitely not good!
What can Brown do to You?
No.
We’re not talking about UPS. What the distinguished Ivy League university should
be doing for you is giving you a great education and a nice degree to carry
around all of your life. In this case, however, an assistant professor in
cancer pathology at Brown snuck up behind a young woman, groped her and
rubbed against her in a lab. He then threatened to get her kicked out of the
program. You know, you’d think such atrocious behavior would at least be put off
until he got tenure, not that this would make it any less serious.
Free Love at Berkeley
It’s
not the 60s, dude. When a professor runs his hand down a graduate student‘s
spine to her buttocks, discovers she didn’t want him to do that, and then simply
tells her to forget it, you’ve got to figure things are going to get worse.
Setting aside the obvious illegality of the act, perhaps he should have said,
“Oh, I’m sorry. I had no idea you didn’t want me to touch your beautiful ass.”
In this case, a world-renown UC Berkeley philosophy professor is facing exactly
what he deserved. You Kant make this up.
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/top-uc-berkeley-professor-accused-of-sexual-harassment/
Professor Sugar Daddy
Well, you learn something every day. We didn’t know there was a “sugar daddy”
web site. When your professor is hanging out there, you gotta figure he’s not
the most trustworthy fellow on campus. So somehow this professor at Bridgewater
state meets a student and wants her to be his dominatrix. He sends her pics of
his sex toy collection. We’re not sure how the two got together, but somehow he
ends up sending a woman money by Venmo in exchange for sex. He was charged with
rape and all sorts of sex crimes, including illegal trafficking of a person for
sexual servitude. Someone needs to whip some sense into that dude. And Venmo!
Really? Guess he didn’t want a receipt.
https://nypost.com/2020/12/31/ex-massachusetts-professor-nicholas-pirelli-indicted-on-sex-crimes/
Psychiatry is not the Study of
Genitalia
While yes, we know that the brain is the most powerful sex organ in the body,
we’re sure that sexual misbehavior cannot be justified in the study of
psychiatry. Of course, psychiatrists study sex and have it just like others, but
apparently this Yale psychiatry professor got way too close to students. He
lured a number of Yale undergraduates to a research facility in St. Kitts and
molested some of them over a period of several decades. This behavior included
inappropriate medical exams.
This ain’t Brain Surgery
That
is, to drug a prospective student’s drink. Wait, no, back up the truck. To go to
a bar with a prospective student. Then of course he, a Penn neurosurgeon having
access to some pretty powerful drugs, slipped one in her glass. Next thing you
know, he’s raping her. How in the world does someone with as much talent as this
person make such a disgusting mistake?
https://www.chronicle.com/article/penn-professor-to-be-sentenced-for-sexual-assault/
Tree-Dating, not People-dating
A
renown University of Tennessee scholar who studies tree-dating was found to have
engaged in sexual misconduct for virtually his entire career. Dude, go hug some
trees.
No way, Jorge
A
distinguished professor of Latin American studies and former vice provost at
Harvard was found to have been sexually assaulting females over several decades.
Despite complaints, Harvard did nothing and continued to promote him, all the
way to vice provost. Eventually he retired. But it’s deeply troubling that there
were allegations against him before he was promoted.
MeToo Reversed
The
relationship between a doctoral student and the dissertation advisor is always a
close one. Fortunately, most of the time it remains professional. But there is
all sorts of room for it to cross the line. But what makes this story from NYU
so unusual is that the dissertation advisor, a professor of German and
comparative literature, was a woman and the doctoral student was a man. Further
compounding the confusion is that the defendant professor claimed they were both
gay, suggesting the allegations were unlikely. She was alleged to have committed
sexual harassment, sexual assault, and stalking. NYU suspended her for sexual
harassment. Numerous other professors came out in her defense. The student filed
a lawsuit. What a complicated story.
https://www.vox.com/2018/8/14/17688144/nyu-me-too-movement-sexual-harassment-avital-ronell
Sex and the Seminary
We’re wondering if Carrie Bradshaw would have had more action at a seminary than
in the Big Apple. Sadly, these high-moral institutions have plenty of immoral
shenanigans. Unfortunately, this woman engaged in a pressurized affair for 10
years, and when she came forward in the hope of helping others, they treated her
like Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter.
Midwestern
Misconduct
Here
are a handful of sexual misconduct cases at that large midwestern university
nicely summarized in the following article.
Psych Ward
at Dartmouth
It
isn’t necessarily inappropriate for professors to socialize with students. There
are often gatherings at various places . But when the socializing involves hot
tubs, there are all sorts of mischief possibilities. Apparently three psychology
professors at Dartmouth got way too close to some of their students, including
one allegation of rape. Three in one department? Is this serious. It’s a large
department (currently 32), but sexual predators are usually widely distributed
across the academy. What the hell is going on here?
It’s Not the Crime. It’s the Coverup.
Oh Yeah?
It’s
both. It seems a Montgomery (MD) college professor teaching an all-female class
made the students wear sports bras and take their shirts off in class. The
college fired the professor but refused to name him. Apparently not all students
had to participate, as the creepy professor inspected them and granted some an
exception. Not sure if a woman who got an exception should be offended or
relieved. When the Department of Education Division of Civil Rights completed an
investigation the story became public and the shit hit the fan. People were
upset that the college had covered it up. As it turns out, however, the names
are not supposed to be revealed. We’re not sure what the guy was teaching, but
he did get fired, thankfully.
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Last updated: May 12, 2024