Too Little, Too Late

The Harvard Business School added insult to injury last week by barely reprimanding six male students for a stream of sexually explicit remarks, contact and violations of privacy 18 months after the charges were made. Though the disciplinary boards were in organizational transition when the case was brought to its attention, this is no excuse for the drawn-out process.

The first complaints about the students' behavior came more than 18 months ago, during which the behavior continued and brought criticism from a number of section leaders and classmates. It was several months into the current school year before the investigation began and another few months before a judgment was handed down from the Faculty and Staff Standards Committee (FSSC).

Though the FSSC said the behavior "seriously interfered with the ability of other students to learn," the punishment it prescribed seems like a cruel joke: the students were sentenced to community service and some were banned from graduation ceremonies and will still receive diplomas in June.

Such a weak punishment following a protracted investigation in which the six students continued to harass their classmates is completely unacceptable. Not only does the procedure show a lack of respect for student and Faculty complaints of sexual harassment--a lapse that could have repercussions from federal employment regulators; the light punishment also serves to condone the behavior. For a school with a student body that is 70 percent male and thus desperate to increase the number of female applicants, this decision is as unwise as it is unjust.

Dean of the Business School Kim B. Clark acknowledged and apologized for the incredibly slow pace of the investigation, but feels it has now come to an adequate closure. However, for those students whose time at HBS was cheapened by these perpetrators, this excuse will not be enough.

Perhaps what is most injured by HBS's lackluster handling of this situation is the business world itself. If they learn from the school's decision, these men will go forward into this world believing that the only consequence of treating others inappropriately is having to pick up a little litter later on.

The lackadaisical treatment of this case by the FSSC reflects poorly on HBS. As an executive training arena and at times playground, its campus manicured like a colonial Disneyland, the seriousness of its students and now its status as an open and psychologically safe place to study may be called into question. The FSSC should learn from their mistake: sexual harassment cases must be treated with a proper degree of seriousness.