Dive Brief:
- University of California System President Janet Napolitano will meet monthly with UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks following protests that he handled sexual misconduct cases among staff too lightly in the past.
- The Los Angeles Times reports that Napolitano, in addition to monthly meetings, has also directed the systemwide director for sexual misconduct issues to work full-time with Berkeley at least through the spring.
- For his part, Dirks announced a plan for quicker investigations, additional funding for victims services, new training, a sanctions review committee, and an interim coordinator for the campus’ improvement processes surrounding sexual harassment and assault claims.
Dive Insight:
The latest case to throw UC Berkeley into turmoil over its handling of sexual harassment claims involved Dean Sujit Choudhry. Choudhry’s former executive assistant filed a lawsuit for sexual harassment, which seems to have prompted the dean’s resignation. After hearing about the case and how it was handled only this month, Napolitano ordered Dirks to keep Choudhry off campus through the end of the semester.
Geoff Marcy, an astronomer, and Graham Fleming, Berkeley’s vice chancellor of research, also were embroiled in their own sexual harassment cases, which protesters have said were handled too lightly because of their powerful positions within the institution. To send a real message about how sexual harassment and assault is treated on campus, administrators must be consistent.