Professor defends against harassment allegations in university oversight document

allegations that other faculty do not receive, each of which the University has to respond to. The fact that I have remained a professor in all Universities with which I have been associated, in good standing, and also an officer or an invited speaker at organizations like CFI, which have strict harassment policies, is a confirmation of the fact that they trust my behavior. I was asked to be an honorary director of CFI, and invited to their last 3 meetings to speak, specifically because, as they have written me after the fact, the attendees universally appreciated my talks, my courtesy, and graciousness in spending time with the attendees. If the purpose of your report is to impugn my integrity or suggest I have a history of harassment, that too is false. As noted in one of your ‘miscellaneous facts’, as a scientist I try and remain skeptical, and rely on empirical evidence, rather than allegations and innuendo. I also try and judge the facts in context. The fact that Universities and other organizations employ me or have me on their boards, or invite me to meetings is because they value my contributions and my actions. Your specific allegations are false or distorted. Item | refers to a consensual encounter in my hotel room in 2006 where we mutually decided, in a polite discussion in fact, that taking it any further would not be appropriate, and had respectful encounters afterwards. I cannot comment on item 3, which involves an anonymous 3rd party claim, because I know nothing about it, and it was not taken seriously enough to result in any university action. Item 4 is confusing. Are you saying that because I decided I didn’t want to go out to a bar with a group of attendees that I was harassing them? The second part is false. I don’t do that. Re incident 5: The ‘female companion’ in this case is my wife, who can attest to the fact that the claim is false, which is what I wrote in response to the blog in question, causing it to be taken down. It is worthwhile responding to Item 2 and 6 in more detail, Re item 2: the student in question was interested in science communication, and on dozens of occasions came to me or wrote to me with questions. When she asked about advice for after graduation I DID tell her she was different than the other students in her year. The rest of them were interested in going on to graduate school, but she was interested in science communication so I told her that she might want to take a different path. Since she was the only woman in her year, as I recall, I did ask her on one of these occasions if that made it difficult for her in any way. I asked, because as a faculty member I was interested, and also because as someone she had asked for career advice from I wanted to know if that made a difference to her. Re asking her for dinner.. I have gone back over emails from that period. I have numerous requests from her to go for coffee to talk, which I usually had to turn down because I was busy, including several occasions where she asked me to have coffee with her off campus to talk, and I politely declined. I did let her accompany me off campus one time to watch me do a BBC interview because she specifically requested it. I did and do have coffee and meals with students on campus, and I see nothing wrong with this. I was shocked when I later learned of her complaint, not least because there was no inappropriate interaction and also because well after the date on which she is said to have been offended, she continued to email me with joking questions or comments, and ata AAAS conference in 2008, for which she had asked, and for which I had written her a letter of recommendation to attend, my wife and I gave her a lift well out out of our way to drop her off at her hotel, and I note in an email response to her email about the conference, agin in 2008, I expressed that I would pass her regards along to my wife and vice versa. When the University informed me of the complaint I was shocked and concerned. When I spoke to the human resources person, including relating my concerns and providing the emails in question, I was told that no formal complaint of sexual harassment was deemed to be warranted in this case, and that the young woman in question had agreed to that. By that time I learned of the complaint I had already announced my intentions to leave Case to accept an offer at ASU—a very difficult decision for me because of my long- standing attachment to the University, and the excellent relations I had with my colleagues there, both among the faculty and among the administration. Because I was already in Arizona at the time I was asked not to have any further interaction with the student I agreed to that request because it was basically moot. I was also told that because it was being handled informally, that (a) it should remain confidential, which I, at least abided by, and (b) if no further complaints were lodged in that case, that the University would remove the allegation from my record after 5 years, which makes me surprised that someone violated that written agreement with you. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031249