Will Fury Over Harvey Weinstein Allegations Change Academe’s Handling of Harassment?

For decades he reportedly used his position of power over young women who were eager to enter his profession, preying on them as his colleagues pretended not to notice. The women stayed silent, fearing they wouldn’t be believed or would jeopardize their fledgling careers.

As the sordid saga of the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has played out in the national news media, it has evoked parallels with the sexual harassment that critics contend is pervasive in academe, particularly in male-dominated academic departments.

The power dynamic between graduate student and adviser is similar to that of hopeful actor and film producer. So, too, is the tendency of others in the profession to dismiss abusive behavior as mere womanizing or flirting, and to look the other way when lines are crossed.

“There are a lot of similarities in how the entertainment industry and academia are structured,” said Adia Harvey Wingfield, a professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis. “In both cases, you have people entering the field who are powerless and vulnerable having to put a lot of faith and trust in someone in a position of power. When people do speak out, it usually looks like women telling other women, ‘Be careful around that professor’ or ‘Don’t have drinks with that professor.’”

A few actors who worked with Mr. Weinstein have expressed regret over the past week that they didn’t speak out when they suspected he was taking advantage of young actresses. And while those confessions have rung hollow for those who consider them too little, too late, advocates for sexual-harassment victims are glad that such conversations are happening at all.

Mr. Weinstein has acknowledged that his behavior toward women caused “a lot of pain,” but he has denied raping anyone.

“One sign of progress is that we’re talking more openly about these things and not just through the ‘whisper network,’ as a colleague described it,” said Alexandra Tracy-Ramirez, an Arizona lawyer who has worked as a Title IX investigator at two colleges.

The Silence of the Bystanders

Colleagues of those who have been accused of predatory behavior offer a variety of excuses for staying silent, she said.

“What we have heard,” she continued, “is that they either didn’t know it was that wrong or didn’t feel they could speak up or didn’t know where to go — especially if the person doing the harassing is powerful.”

Even if they do speak up, there’s no guarantee a college’s administration will investigate. If the offending faculty member has tenure, the hearings and appeals that could lead to dismissal may take a semester or more.

A case in point is that of Geoffrey W. Marcy, a noted astronomy professor at the University of California at Berkeley who was accused of sexually harassing female students over a decade. He was allowed to remain on the faculty even after the university found him responsible for harassment.

In a letter, administrators later described his behavior as “contemptible and inexcusable,” but said they had been hindered by a disciplinary process that would have been “lengthy and uncertain.” Mr. Marcy eventually resigned, in 2015.

Even if the case against such a professor makes it to a faculty committee, members wary of any attempt to strip a colleague of tenure protections are unlikely to vote against a professor unless the facts are clear-cut. In harassment cases, the facts can be murky.

To avoid the hassle, legal costs, and bad press, administrators often encourage accused professors to resign, and may even help them find another job.

Tenure may protect a serial harasser from being fired, but it doesn’t necessarily free a would-be whistle-blower from retaliation, Ms. Wingfield said. That’s another reason colleagues might stay silent even if they suspect a professor’s behavior is inappropriate, or even criminal.

Despite all of the public outrage over high-profile cases involving celebrities like Mr. Weinstein, Bill Cosby, or Donald J. Trump, “when something like this happens, we’re collectively aghast, but that collective disdain won’t be what stops people from engaging in this behavior,” Ms. Wingfield said. “That will only happen when they know they will lose their livelihood if it continues — not just be shuttled from one department or university to another.”

But the emphasis, in the Weinstein case, on what others in the industry knew, when they knew it, and what they did about it may spill over into a greater awareness about the importance of bystander intervention in academe.

“This may be creating an ‘aha!’ moment not only for the people who have directly experienced the behavior but also for those who noticed it and looked the other way,” said Heather Metcalf, director of research and analysis at the Association for Women in Science.

Kafkaesque Investigations

A lawyer who has represented students accused of sexual misconduct agreed that people in academe may be more quick to call out questionable behavior between faculty members and students, but he sees a potential downside. Sometimes, a friendly overture or a desire to help an aspiring scholar can be misinterpreted, and that problem might get worse in the aftermath of the Weinstein scandal, said the lawyer, Justin Dillon.

“If I were a professor, I would be terrified of asking a promising student of the opposite sex out to coffee to discuss their career prospects,” he said. “The danger is that a lot of professors may start to believe that the risks involved in mentoring just aren’t worth it.”

The problem, Mr. Dillon said, is exacerbated “by universities that put them through Kafkaesque investigations regarding allegations that common sense should suggest should be dismissed out of hand.”

Others argue that the problem isn’t that students are being overly sensitive to perceived harassment. It’s that too much abusive behavior is still tolerated.

Joan T. Schmelz, deputy director of the Arecibo Observatory, in Puerto Rico, encouraged women who had been harassed by Mr. Marcy to connect and speak out. She herself had been sexually harassed, during graduate school in the 1990s, she said.

She also spoke with some of Mr. Marcy’s colleagues, who told her that his inappropriate behavior toward students had been an “open secret,” but that they either didn’t know what to do or thought that by speaking out, they might make matters worse.

Tips for Responding

In response, Ms. Schmelz formulated some tips for dealing with questionable behavior.

If someone tells a sexist joke or makes a sexist comment, say something simple, like “I disagree,” she said. “As soon as you say that phrase, it puts you on the right side of the issue. You become an ally.”

If someone tells you about an uncomfortable interaction with a professor, listen respectfully, she said. Don’t try to poke holes in the account.

Also, “if you really want to get off the sidelines and be an ally,” learn about bystander intervention — many colleges now offer training to deal with problems like hazing and underage drinking — and help tailor one for sexual harassment, she said.

And don’t assume that just because a professor seems like a nice person or is an impressive scholar, he or she isn’t capable of abuse.

Take, for instance, the complaints raised by two former graduate students against a Boston University researcher, David R. Marchant, a professor of climate change and director of the Antarctic Research Group. The alleged abuse, detailed this month in Science magazine, included degrading sexual slurs and abusive behavior while they were isolated in Antarctica in the 1990s.

The women said they had waited until their careers were launched before speaking out because they feared retaliation. Asked for comment, Mr. Marchant on Friday issued a written response saying the university is now looking into the allegations.

“I have cooperated fully in that investigation,” he wrote. “I do not wish to compromise the integrity of that investigation by making any comments before the investigation has been completed.”

In this case, as in others, colleagues were quick to express disbelief, describing Mr. Marchant as charming and charismatic.

“There’s an inability,” said Ms. Metcalf, “to see how you can be an amazing scientist and still engage in bad behavior.”

Perhaps, she said, the furor over Harvey Weinstein might encourage more people “to call out bad behavior for what it is.”

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.

Correction (10/16/2017, 12:11 p.m.): This article originally misspelled the surname of a Boston University researcher. He is David R. Marchant, not Marchand. The article has been updated to reflect this correction.