Investigate Charges

Sexual harassment is a difficult topic, and allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace are always difficult to confront. Whether or not the accuser is telling the truth, he or she will face a tough working environment once the charges become public. Whether or not the accused is guilty as charged, he or she will likely be considered with suspicion by colleagues. And whatever happens, the impact on workplace morale and productivity is bound to be substantial--and negative.

This is the situation in the archaeology wing of the Anthropology Department, where the wing's chair, Clay Professor of Scientific Archaeology Nikolaas J. van der Merwe, stands accused by seven female graduate students of telling sexually explicit jokes in their presence. The charges have created an enormous rift in the department between those graduate students and faculty members who side with van der Merwe--who adamantly denies that he behaved inappropriately--and those who support the accusers, most of whom have asked reporters to keep their identities secret for fear of losing their jobs or their chances at Ph.D.'s.

Indeed, so freely are the charges and countercharges flying, that it is impossible to take sides in the conflict or reach any conclusions, save one: when as many students are making charges as are in this case, something is very wrong.

This much is also clear: the charges, which have been investigated by The Crimson since December--and many of which involve several years of alleged inappropriate behavior--have not been properly handled by those responsible for resolving them. In the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, that responsibility rests with Margot N. Gill, the school's dean for student affairs. To date, Gill has not launched even a perfunctory investigation into the allegations, against van der Merwe. And she has refused to discuss the charges with reporters. Meanwhile, the wing suffers. The alleged victims suffer. And van der Merwe suffers. At this point, since Gill has clearly dropped the ball, her superiors should step in. The University should launch a formal investigation into the allegations, headed by Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles in cooperation with the General Counsel's office.

Furthermore, Knowles should put a stop to the witch-hunt atmosphere that currently pervades the archaeology wing. That witch-hunt to identify and presumably punish van der Merwe's accusers, is--almost unbelievably--acknowledged by the senior professors conducting it. As Phillips Professor of Archaeology and Ethnology C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky told The Crimson, "People here have done a lot of work figuring out who has spoken to you. We know who is talking to you."

Such McCarthy-esque statements are a sad indication of just how bad the situation has become. Clearly, those responsible for running the archaeology wing--and the department of which it is a part--aren't able to handle things as they now stand. The matter should be taken out of their hands and handled.