Harvard fights fiercely, as it is wont to do

Anything to do with Harvard University is always a big deal around here - even for those of us whose closest tie to that modest little school in Cambridge is eating at Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage, just across the way from Harvard Yard. 

When that anything to do with Harvard is positive - a Nobel Prize! - we get to take a bit of second- or third-hand pride in living in such close proximity to greatness. Hub of the Universe! Smartest place to live in the whole, wide world.

When that anything to do with Harvard is negative - office space for Jeffrey Epstein! - we, of course, do a rapid course reversal and the old schadenfreude kicks in. Harvard! Such arrogant a-holes! What do you expect!

Whether + or - , Harvard makes news, and the latest bit to make news is the story about three (female) graduate students who are suing Veritas Central for failing to act on accusations that anthropology processor John Comaroff engaged in sexual harassment. 

When the accusations surfaced a few years back, Harvard had put Comaroff on (upaid) leave. But other than that, the women argue, their complaints were largely shrugged off. 

Initially, much of the reaction focused on a specific incident, a meeting with student Lilia Kilburn (one of the three women suing) during which:

Professor Comaroff repeatedly described various ways in which Ms. Kilburn would be raped and killed in South Africa — approximately 3,000 miles away from Central Africa — because she is in a same-sex relationship,” the suit says.

Comaroff’s attorneys acknowledged the conversation he had with Kilburn about fieldwork abroad while traveling with her same-sex partner, but they said going over the risk of sexual violence was a “necessary conversation for her safety.” (Source: NBC News)

Concern for student safety. Sound advice regarding her well-being. Reasonable enough.  

And reasonable enough for a group of fellow faculty memers to jump into the fray to support their colleague. 

The day after Comaroff was placed on unpaid leave, 38 faculty members signed an open letter calling him an “excellent colleague” and expressing dismay at Harvard’s decision, adding that they would feel “ethically compelled to offer the same advice” to a student considering studies in a country with such prohibitions.

I can't reel the names of very many Harvard faculty members off the top of my head, but writer, scholar, and TV personality (Finding Your Roots) Henry Louis Gates is one of them. He signed. As did historian Jill Lepore, writer Jamaica Kincaid, and Paul Farmer (Doctors Without Borders). 

Harvard fights fiercely, and circling the wagons is part of their fighting repertoire. 

Then last week, the lawsuit filed by Kilburn, Margaret Czerwienski, and Amulya Mandava provided a lot more detail about what went down with Comaroff. They claim he:

... “kissed and groped students without their consent, made unwelcome sexual advances, and threatened to sabotage students’ careers if they complained.” When women did seek help from university officials, the lawsuit adds, Harvard “brushed them aside and opted to protect its star professor over vulnerable students.”

The students’ complaint, filed in Massachusetts federal court, alleges Harvard’s eventual probe into Comaroff’s alleged harassment “only exacerbated [their] nightmare” by prolonging the process, allowing the professor to “tamper with evidence” by intimidating potential student witnesses, and sharing Kilburn’s private therapy records with Comaroff.

Comaroff then used these notes to “gaslight” Kilburn during the university investigation, the lawsuit claims, and tell her “that she must have imagined that he sexually harassed her because she was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.” She says she developed this condition, however, as a result of his sexual misconduct. (Source: The Daily Beast)

It certainly sounds as if Comaroff has been at his creepy behavior for years, decades even, as he supposedly has a history of harrassing behavior at the University of Chicago, where he taught for many years before being wooed to Harvard in 2012. And he's the sort of old goat who makes a ho-ho laugh out of it, too. 

During an October 2017 dinner attended by faculty and grad students, Comaroff was allegedly so bold as to compare himself to Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced movie producer and convicted rapist. “They’re coming for me next!” Comaroff said, according to the lawsuit.

And his wife - who is also on the Harvard anthropology faculty - got in on the act, too. 

His wife Jean then allegedly scorned accusers who report serial predators like Weinstein, saying, “Whatever happened to rolling with the punches?”

I have sometimes felt that the Me Too movement spends too much me too time on smaller, micro offenses, when they should be focusing on larger, more serious issues. But ignoring those smaller, micro offenses - which is what my generation tended to do: shrugging things off, 'boys will be boys', rolling with the punches, rolling our eyes - helped create an environment where a lot worse things can and did happen. 

So, good for these young women for standing up, knowing, I'm quite sure, that it will jeopardize their professional opportunities.

They're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. GOOD ON THEM!

Anyway, there's a lot more detail on a lot more bad behavior on Comaroff's part. And, of course, a lot more denial from Harvard. 

But the additional information on salacious behavior on Comaroff's part prompted 35 or the 38 to retract their support for Comaroff. (Source: Harvard Crimson - write fiercely, Harvard Crimson!)

I know myself, and I know that I, too, could have knee-jerked my way into signing the letter in support of Comaroff. He's a friend. I find him kind of amusing. He's just a harmless old goat who was just giving sage advice. He never grabbed my ass. 

Yep. I might have signed. 

And then, as more information emerged, I would probably have unsigned.

As for Harvard, they just need to do better. Those of us who live in the occasional reflection of their mighty glow hope they improve. But knowing how fiercely they tend to fight when under attack, I ain't counting on it. 

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"Fight Fiercely Harvard" is a satirical Harvard fight song written by Tom Lehrer.