In October of 2015, UC Berkeley found Professor Geoff Marcy responsible for violating the university’s sexual harassment policy for behavior that included sexual battery and sexual assault against four students. His sanction? An apology, and a promise not to do it again.   

Predatory faculty behavior and institutional inaction is surprisingly common:

• In October of 2015, Rust College settled with three students who brought complaints against professor Sylvester Oliver, including rape. Dr. Oliver was allowed to resign.
• In September of 2015, a court dismissed professor Peter Ludlow’s claim of gender discrimination against Northwestern University that he filed after the school found him responsible for “sexual harassment” for getting a student drunk and sexually assaulting her. Dr. Ludlow continues to teach at the university, and a second student has come forward to report that he sexually assaulted her.
• In September of 2015, a former Ph.D. student sued the University of Minnesota for not acting quickly enough after it found professor Ted Swem responsible for sexual harassment that caused her to leave her program.  
• In August of 2015, two students filed a lawsuit against Cypress College after it failed to investigate a sexual harassment complaint against professor Edgar Alex Herrera because “Mr. Herrera has his rights.” 
• In July of 2015, a student filed a lawsuit against Adrian College for failing to adequately respond to a claim of sexual harassment by professor Vic Libiri that caused her to change her course of study.
• In June of 2015, two graduate students filed a lawsuit against UCLA for failing to act on multiple complaints of "sexual harassment" for behaviors that constitute sexual assault against professor Gabriel Piterberg.
• In April of 2015, San Diego State University found professor Vincent Martin responsible for sexual harassment against an undergraduate. This is the third time the university has found him responsible for harassing a student, but Dr. Martin continues to teach at UCSD.

Sexually predatory faculty behavior is common on college campuses. About half of female faculty in academic medicine experience sexual harassment; 64% of female scientists are sexually harassed and one-in-five are sexually assaulted in the field; one-in-five female graduate students at a leading institution say a faculty member has sexually harassed them; and 7% of undergraduate students nationally report being harassed by a professor. This predatory behavior causes trauma to victims and often impedes their career in significant ways, and as such, it is a clear violation of Title IX rights to a gender equitable learning environment. 

Colleges and universities have fostered a culture where predatory behavior is “normal” through light sanctions, labeling sexual assault and rape as violations of “sexual harassment” policy, allowing retaliation against victims and their allies, and giving predatory faculty members a proverbial “golden parachute” -- a voluntary severance package with a mutual non-disclosure agreement which enables the predator to simply ride the parachute to another institution, and repeat the behavior.

Given the shocking prevalence of sexually predatory faculty behavior and the equally shocking inaction from schools when victims report this behavior, we demand that Congress enact a national sexual misconduct policy for faculty members. This policy must include significant deterrents designed to both prevent faculty from offending and prevent universities from hiring serial offenders, and strong protections against retaliation for victims and their allies.

Signed,

Faculty Against Rape (FAR)

End Rape on Campus (EROC)

#StopPredatoryProfessors