Harvardâs Anthropology department has formed eight subcommittees â alongside hiring an external consultant and launching faculty outreach efforts â in order to address longstanding climate issues that surfaced this summer.
An investigation by The Crimson published in May revealed that three male faculty â former department chairs Theodore C. Bestor and Gary Urton and professor John L. Comaroff â faced allegations of sexual harassment, and that dozens of current and former students felt the department s culture placed women at a disadvantage.
In the ensuing months, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Claudine Gay placed both Urton and Comaroff on paid administrative leave pending investigations; Urton retired in August. In an early December interview, Gay declined to comment on the progress of the investigations or whether they are ongoing.