Chicano-Studies Scholar Left Yale Amid Harassment Charges

A Chicano-studies scholar who left Yale University this year was the focus of allegations that he had sexually harassed a graduate student.

When Mario T. Garcia left Yale last summer to return to his former job as a professor of Chicano studies and history at the University of California at Santa Barbara, he cited personal reasons (The Chronicle, November 18). Mr. Garcia, who had been at Yale since 1990, has strongly denied the allegations.

A Yale official who requested anonymity said a sex-harassment grievance board of Yale’s Graduate School had held a closed-door hearing last spring to consider allegations that Mr. Garcia had assaulted a female graduate student. The board heard statements from both the woman and Mr. Garcia, the official said.

Reports of the investigation first surfaced in the Yale Daily News, the student newspaper, which reported last month that the woman had accused Mr. Garcia of sexual assault. The grievance board’s findings were confidential, but the newspaper said the board’s decision “was not in favor of Garcia.”

Under Yale procedures, the graduate dean would have reviewed the grievance board’s decision and considered what action, if any, to take. But the Yale official said Mr. Garcia had resigned before the administration could act.

In a statement, Mr. Garcia denied that he had ever sexually assaulted or harassed anyone at Yale. He called the student’s allegations false and said local police agencies had found them to be “without merit.” He also said his decision to leave Yale was unrelated to the allegations or the findings of the grievance board.

David P. Gold, an assistant state’s attorney in New Haven, said no criminal investigation was under way involving Mr. Garcia.