The 65 pages filed in federal court in Boston that constitute the complaint of three doctoral students are detailed and damning. Anthropology professor John Comaroff, 77, is accused of “having used his power and his pedestal for years at Harvard to exploit apprentice researchers”. But Margaret Czerwienski, Lilia Kilburn and Amulya Mandava also go after the Harvard administration, which repeatedly ignored their reports.
“He kissed and fondled female students without their consent and threatened to sabotage their careers if they complained,” they also testify in the New York Times. In great detail, the complaint recounts, for example, that the professor “repeatedly forcibly kissed Miss Kilburn, groped her in public and spoke aloud of her imaginary rape and murder” if she had relations with same-sex people in some African countries. Concerning “Miss Czerwienski and Mandava, Professor Comaroff felt authorized to threaten them, tarnish their reputations and disrupt their careers”.
“A majority white and male faculty” indifferent
The complaint “aims at an abuse of power” and targets Harvard University, “one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world” and its president, who treated them with “deliberate indifference”, they accuse. Before a possible civil trial, the plaintiffs claim financial compensation of an unknown amount.
Although the plaintiffs accuse Harvard of having ignored their allegations for a long time, their complaint acknowledges that a “Harvard committee which examined the atmosphere of the anthropology department has just concluded that there was a ‘sexist and misogynistic atmosphere there ( …) in a predominantly white and male faculty”. According to the New York Times, the facts began to be made public a year ago in the Harvard Journal. The professor was then put on leave and an internal investigation concluded that he had been guilty of verbal harassment.
He should not be able to teach next year according to the daily, which specifies that the university has not accused him of sexual harassment or assault. His lawyers, interviewed by the newspaper, said in a statement that their client “categorically” denied the accusations of the students.