Tenured Professor Dismissed at Berkeley in Wake of Sexual-Harassment Charges

Oakland, California -- The University of California Board of Regents has dismissed a faculty member on sexual-harassment charges. He is believed to be the first tenured professor to be fired at the university.

Michel Strickmann, an associate professor of Oriental languages at the Berkeley campus, was dismissed by the board in an executive session in June. The action did not become widely known until later, however, when a student-newspaper reporter found a brief note in the minutes of the board’s meeting.

A university spokesman confirmed that the professor had been dismissed, but would not provide details because of state privacy laws. But a campus source who asked not to be identified said numerous complaints of sexual harassment had been filed with the university against Mr. Strickmann by more than one female student. A recommendation that charges be brought against the professor was originally made by the Office of the Title IX Coordinator on the Berkeley campus, which investigated the complaints, the source said. During the internal disciplinary process that followed, a faculty committee that deals with tenure issues on the Berkeley campus reviewed the charges, determined there had been wrongdoing on the professor’s part, and recommended dismissal, a university official said.

Mr. Strickmann, who could not be reached for comment, joined Berkeley’s faculty in 1978 and received tenure in 1980. He contested the charges throughout the dismissal proceedings. A lawyer who represented him during the proceedings said he was considering suing the university to challenge his dismissal.