Florian Jaeger, a professor at the U. of Rochester, says his behavior toward women did not constitute harassment.J. Adam Fenster, U. of Rochester
Updated (2/28/2018, 10:30 a.m.) with more detail on the censure motion and faculty response.
The University of Rochester’s Faculty Senate voted on Tuesday to censure T. Florian Jaeger, a professor in the department of brain and cognitive sciences who was accused of sexual harassment but largely cleared by a recent independent investigation.
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Florian Jaeger, a professor at the U. of Rochester, says his behavior toward women did not constitute harassment.J. Adam Fenster, U. of Rochester
Updated (2/28/2018, 10:30 a.m.) with more detail on the censure motion and faculty response.
The University of Rochester’s Faculty Senate voted on Tuesday to censure T. Florian Jaeger, a professor in the department of brain and cognitive sciences who was accused of sexual harassment but largely cleared by a recent independent investigation.
The measure, which had been shelved after more than a dozen people weighed in at the Senate’s last meeting, passed by a vote of 20 to 19, with two abstentions, according to two people who attended the closed meeting.
The censure motion, a copy of which was shared with The Chronicle, said that the most recent report “documents numerous instances of inappropriate and unprofessional sexual or sexualized behavior by Professor Florian Jaeger between 2007 and 2013.”
“This behavior resulted in significant harm to students, the affected department, and the broader university community,” it states. “We condemn this behavior in the strongest terms.”
The Senate also criticized the decision by university lawyers to search faculty members’ emails and share them with the chairman of their department. That action, without sufficient justification, “has damaged the faculty’s trust in the administration to uphold reasonable expectations of privacy,” the statement read.
The censure vote is the latest development in a bruising battle that has divided the university and led Rochester’s president, Joel Seligman, to step down.
A report issued in January by an independent investigator concluded that Jaeger’s behavior after he arrived, in 2007, while inappropriate, offensive, and unprofessional at times, did not meet the legal threshold for sexual harassment. That finding angered a group of current and former researchers in the department who have sued the university over its handling of the matter.
The university twice found that Jaeger, who is on paid leave, had not violated university policies against sexual harassment despite behavior it found problematic.
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The independent investigation’s report, produced by Mary Jo White, a former federal prosecutor, said that from 2007 to 2011, Jaeger had four consensual sexual relationships with either prospective, current, or former Rochester students. During that time, the report said, he partied frequently with students, offending many with his flirtatious behavior and sexual innuendo.
It concluded, however, that some of the claims against him had been exaggerated or could not be substantiated.
In a statement issued Tuesday evening, Jaeger’s lawyer, Steven V. Modica, called the vote “the result of an alarming rush to judgment” that was “based on emotion, rumor, and a well-designed public-relations campaign on the part of the complainants.”
He said the plaintiffs had protested when their emails were searched and shared with their department chair because the emails’ contents had “showed how they tried to influence witnesses, interfere with investigations, and punish and marginalize those faculty and students who did not agree with them.”
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Modica said Jaeger had changed his behavior after his supervisor counseled him, in 2013, following a student’s complaint.
Steven T. Piantadosi, an assistant professor in the department who is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the university, said that characterization of the emails was false. “Instead of taking responsibility for the people and institution he’s harmed,” he said, “he’s trying to turn the blame around on the whistle-blowers and the numerous women who came forward to speak about their mistreatment by him.”
In a written statement issued in January, Jaeger apologized to students and faculty members for the distress the controversy had caused. He pointed out that the independent report was the third to find that he had not sexually harassed or retaliated against anyone. But he said that he “could have showed more maturity” in his interactions with students and was sorry that he had made some of them uncomfortable.
Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, and job training, as well as other topics in daily news. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.
Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, student success, and job training, as well as free speech and other topics in daily news. Follow her @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.
