A committee examining the climate within Harvardâs Anthropology department recommended in a final report this month that the department establish a code of conduct, allow access to third-party arbitration in misconduct investigations, and order an external review when âpowerfulâ figures in the department are accused of sexual misconduct.
The department formed a Standing Committee for a Supportive Departmental Community last year following an investigation by The Crimson that revealed 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 past students said the departmentâs culture disadvantaged women.
Admissions, faculty promotion, curriculum and more
When Harvard University was looking for an easy way to sell punishments on unrecognized single-sex groups such as “final clubs,” it seized on their supposed role as facilitators of sexual assault.
This rationale, however, was largely missing from the report and recommendations issued by the task force on “single gender social organizations.”
Instead, it said these clubs must be eradicated because of their “oftentimes toxic atmosphere,” which reeks of “elitism and discrimination” and stands in contrast to the “diverse and socially conscious” students of Harvard. Activists accused the university of a bait-and-switch.
Nearly four years later, Harvard is at it again.