With a big hat tip to Sound Politics commenter and Palousitics blogger Tom Forbes, here's some news you haven't read in Seattle's daily newspapers about sexual harassment at Washington State University in Pullman. As it happens, a central figure - one subsequently determined by a WSU panel to have actually perpetrated harassment against a female WSU student - was hired to promote.........diversity. In fact, as this archived "WSU Today" article shows, Bernardo Gallegos was hired away from the University Of Illinois-Chicago, as a WSU "Distinguished Professor of Multicultural Education." His recruitment was central to a special WSU multicultural studies "cluster hire" process initiated by WSU Provost Robert C. Bates, and the Dean of WSU's School of Education, Judy Mitchell. Thanks to the school's intrepid student newspaper, The Daily Evergreen, it has recently become public that Gallegos, earlier this year, was found by the school's Center for Human Rights to have sexually harassed a female student, and is now facing a related lawsuit. CHR recommended disciplinary action in the school's own proceeding, and in another case, involving CHR findings of multiple harassments committed by another WSU education prof (about which more below). I have a call in to WSU's School of Education Dean, Judy Mitchell, who is travelling today, to determine what sort of discipline has actually been applied to each professor.
UPDATE, 11/15/05: No response yet from Dean Mitchell; I have now left a message with Provost Bates, who is also Executive Vice-President of WSU. I am told he too, like Dean Mitchell, is travelling today. Presumably from a place of enlightenment to a place of consequences. Via Tom Forbes comes this "open letter to the university community," dated today, by Bates, in which he stresses that preventing, reporting and addressing "proven" sexual harassment at WSU - with serious disciplinary measures - is of utmost concern. These measures can include, Bates writes, "warnings, letters of reprimand or censure...salary reductions, suspension and termination." Very good, Provost: what discipline then for the two professors found by your CHR to have sexually harrassed students? Any whatsoever? Or are CHR's findings wrong, and the allegations unproven? Or is there a separate set of rules for those of other hues, who came to "privilege" only later in life? Do share, please. BTW, Gallegos recently get a four percent raise, as noted in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News article of Nov. 7, 2005 that's posted here in the comments section. On top of that, Mitchell and Bates tell the paper his harassment case had no bearing on his academic standing and salary evaluation. He was directed to seek counselling, however. Memo to WSU President, economist and humanitarian Lane Rawlins: this here cheese you got shore ain't Cougar Gold.
UPDATE: 11/16/05: WSU College of Education Dean Judy Mitchell called to say that she cannot comment on any disciplinary action against Professor Gallegos because the matter is in litigation and a personnel matter; and also cannot comment on discipline taken in the case involving the other (unnamed) WSU education prof, who was also found by CHR to have committed sexual harassment, because that too is a personnel matter. She did indicate she will share with me, when it is filed, WSU's initial written response in the civil action against the school involving Prof. Gallegos and the complainant, Christina Garcia.
UPDATE 11/18/05: I just spoke to Provost Bates, he told me he has no reason to doubt the accuracy of CHR's finding that sexual harassment did occur in each of the two cases, Gallegos and the unnamed College of Ed professor. Regarding punishment, Bates could confirm only that disciplinary action against Gallegos so far has been limited to warnings and guidelines regarding future conduct, plus counselling; and in the other case, to a letter of reprimand and counselling. The university is going to work hard on responding better to allegations and actual findings of sexual harrassment, he says. Bates made it clear that additional discipline for Gallegos would have to follow faculty manual procedures and the terms of Gallegos' contract with the school. I'd like to suggest that no faculty member should be so revered or protected, and no academic diversity initiative so sacrosanct that there should NOT be an across-the-board University policy that professors found by investigators to have sexually harassed students be given a mandatory 30-day suspension and letter of reprimand, just for starters. With a second finding of harassment being cause for mandatory dismissal. It's really simple: you don't use your position of power over a student to try to extract sex. And if you do, you pay a serious price, no procedural hemming and hawing.
Read on......(Mac Safari users click on date stamp to continue).
While Seattle dailies have been sitting this one out completely, the The WSU Daily Evergreen has not. First, from a March '05 article, part of the backstory, on the big diversity hire at WSU.
When professor of multicultural education Bernardo Gallegos was hired in August, one of his objectives at WSU was to promote diversity. Gallegos hopes to do just that at the Globalization and Diversity conference starting today through Saturday in the CUB. More than 100 scholars and writers from around the world will examine the issues of diversity and how it affects the world and future, economically and socially. Discussion panels, speakers, and symposiums will highlight the conference including sessions on multiculturalism, religious identities and race wars...."Everybody here studies diversity in different ways whether through gender, sexuality, disabilities, whiteness or critical race theory," Gallegos said. "Diversity is a complex issue. It's an ongoing conversation. It's not something that can be simple and can be solved now."
OK, standard academic cant. Watcha gonna do? How about this, for starters: insist that the diversity shills of academe not abuse positions of authority to sexually harass young women. And mete out swift and hard justice if and when they violate their so-called principles against sexism and privilege. The Daily Evergreen of October 27, 2005, reports (better late than never) on an April finding against Gallegos.
A WSU professor faces counseling and a lawsuit after the university’s human rights office found he sexually harassed a student last spring. A Center for Human Rights final report released on April 1 stated Bernardo Gallegos, a College of Education distinguished professor in Pullman, harassed a graduate student in February....The report recommended (emphasis mine) disciplinary action and counseling for Gallegos as well as a sexual harassment program for the education department to avoid similar incidents in the future....The complainant, a graduate student in the College of Education, initially asked Gallegos to chair her program of graduate study because she respected his accomplishments, according to the CHR report. Gallegos and the complainant met at a local coffee shop to talk about adjusting to graduate school on Feb. 1. The complainant recommended the shop because it was public, according to the report.
Gallegos later suggested they go to his home so she could see some remodeling he had done. The complainant said in the report that she did not want to go, but agreed because he was her professor and she needed his help. In the report, the complainant said Gallegos tried to "set the mood" with lit candles and wine when they arrived. She also told CHR investigators that Gallegos said he was attracted to her. The complainant said Gallegos then wanted to know what she thought about him. He also said he would not be "all over her," which prompted her to say she wanted to leave, according to the report.
In a description of the event, the complainant said: "While we were walking out toward his car he was walking too close to me, violating my personal space and when I turned around to respond to him he grabbed my face with his left arm. I then retreated immediately and walked toward Gallegos’ vehicle and he chuckled and said if I was going to tell [name removed], my husband, I told him that if I felt like telling him I would."
During the drive back to the coffee shop to pick up her car, Gallegos touched her hand while he described how he had problems with a woman in the past and did not want it to happen again, according to the CHR report. Gallegos denied the allegations in the report. The CHR report states Gallegos’ sequence of events was consistent, but not completely credible. "His version seemed carefully calculated to deflect any suggestion of inappropriate behavior with respect to every allegation," even before he had received a written copy of complainant’s statement," the report stated.
The accuser has subsequently revealed her identity. Just 12 days ago, in fact. Seattle P-I news desk, hello? Seattle Times?
It would be nice if reports of sexual harassment at achingly liberal WSU ended there. But they don't. Here, published just five days ago in The Daily Evergreen, is another tale of liberal professors gone all horny and harrassing at WSU.
Susan K. Gardner hopes ending her silence involving an experience of sexual harassment will highlight institutional problems and end the victimization of WSU students. Gardner is a graduate from the doctorate program in the WSU College of Education who is now an associate professor of higher education at Louisiana State University.During her time at WSU, she learned from professors who spoke out on social equality and against discrimination. They helped to shape the type of woman she would become. Other events at WSU influenced her in a different way, one that went directly against the ideals she learned in the classroom.
Gardner said her graduate adviser, a professor in the College of Education, repeatedly sexually harassed her by making unwelcome and obscene advances against her will beginning in 2003. This included the adviser asking to go home with her, licking her ear, asking about oral sex and saying, “What I’d do to you if I wasn’t your professor.”
Similar to the case involving education professor Bernardo Gallegos, she said the accused professor was a trusted supporter whom the victim relied on for guidance. She requested his name not be printed.
Findings? The Evergreen:
The (Center for Human Rights) report found the accused professor violated WSU’s code for sexual harassment. It also concluded he had harassed other students, Gardner said.
Look, I'm with Marvin Gaye: "Let's Get It On." Preferably, however, within the context of a commited monagamous relationship, AND with a Stephen Stills exceptionalism clause. You can't just "Love The One You're With".....if they don't want to get it on; and under no circumstances if you're in a position of authority over the intended. With two WSU education school professors now determined by the school's own investigators to have sexually harasssed students, the university's "multi-cultural" and "diversity" initiatives are even further exposed as shabby and intellectually barren. Basically, talking up diversity and all the attendant "isms," is a great way for older guys to meet chicks at college and try to get in their pants. That's what I'm getting, anyhow.
Just yesterday we blogged here about "diversity" dogma and political indoctrination at WSU's ed school. Political correctness and hypocrisy run rampant in Washington's higher ed system, especially in the humanities and social sciences. I can only hope my kids go into science or engineering, or some such field.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at November 15, 2005 12:05 PM | Email ThisWSU, professor hit with lawsuit; Professor must undergo counseling, given pay increase
By E. Kirsten Peters, Daily News staff writer
A graduate student in the College of Education at Washington State University filed a sexual discrimination lawsuit last week against WSU and a professor in the college.
Christina T. Garcia is suing WSU and Professor Bernardo P. Gallegos. Gallegos allegedly engaged in “quid pro quo” sexual harassment of Garcia because he “intentionally suggested to her that he would assist Garcia in her academic career at WSU in return for Garcia engaging in a personal relationship with him that would include conduct of a sexual nature,” according to the lawsuit filed in Whitman County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Garcia filed a formal harassment complaint against Gallegos with WSU’s Center for Human Rights in February. Gallegos denied the allegation of harassment to CHR.
In a report issued in early April, CHR found Gallegos had violated university policy in his conduct toward Garcia. Dean of Education Judy Mitchell told Gallegos he must seek mandatory counseling.
In addition to making verbal suggestions of a personal relationship, Gallegos “touched Garcia with his hand on her face,” according to the lawsuit filed in Colfax.
The interaction between Gallegos and Garcia occurred at Gallegos’ house after he invited Garcia to his home to see some remodeling work, according to the lawsuit.
Gallegos did not return a telephone call or an e-mail from the Daily News seeking comment on the lawsuit. Garcia referred inquiries to her lawyer.
The College of Education chose not to discuss the case with its other graduate students last spring after CHR found Gallegos had violated university policy in his conduct toward Garcia because the CHR report was private, Mitchell said.
“It was a personnel issue, and the rights of a faculty member to privacy obtained at that time,” Mitchell said.
Garcia’s motivation in filing the lawsuit is to make WSU take stronger actions about the case, said her attorney, Guy Nelson of Pullman.
“WSU doesn’t have zero tolerance about sexual harassment. It has guaranteed tolerance,” Nelson said. “They want to sweep things under the rug. That’s Christina’s position.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages, attorney fees and other “injunctive relief” the court may deem just.
Gallegos was hired by WSU in the spring of 2004 as a distinguished faculty member in the area of minority education issues. He was one of two faculty members hired in what WSU administrators call a “cluster hire,” a recent approach meant to increase diversity on the faculty. He joined the faculty for the fall term of 2004.
Public records show Gallegos was paid $12,222 per month for the nine-month 2004-05 school year. This academic year he is being paid $12,723 per month, a raise of $501 per month or about 4.1 percent.
The CHR finding against Gallegos did not influence the College of Education in its considerations regarding giving Gallegos a raise this summer, Mitchell said.
“He met the criteria for a raise through his academic work,” Mitchell said.
“We did not consider the complaint as part of his academic work.”
Provost Robert Bates signed off on the raise for Gallegos.
“I review all (faculty) raises,” Bates said. “His raise was based on his professional performance … there is nothing in the faculty manual that would connect a complaint against a professor (for sexual harassment) with a raise.”
Gallegos teaches one graduate course in the fall and one in the spring. He does not teach undergraduate classes.
Gallegos has other duties besides the two graduate courses he teaches, Mitchell said.
He advises graduate students, takes part in departmental committee assignments, mentors junior faculty members and provides leadership on diversity issues, Mitchell said.
“He organized and put on a conference last March on international globalization, diversity and education,” Mitchell said. “He will be doing that again this March.”
Garcia remains enrolled in Gallegos’ department as a doctoral student.
Gallegos has been told to avoid contact with her and to keep his office door open when he meets with graduate students, Bates said.
E. Kirsten Peters can be reached at (509) 334-6397, ext. 310, or by e-mail at ekpeters@dnews.com.
Posted by: Tom Forbes on November 15, 2005 12:36 PMWith advancement of moral relativism all disguised as diversity and tolerance, this is what we get from all corners of the society, be they educational institutions.
Posted by: C. Oh on November 15, 2005 01:01 PMHopefully, due to the feelings of inadequacy caused by their subject matter, many more WSU professors like Gallegos have turned to sexual harrassment for stimulation. All it would take is a few more professors to create a big enough scandal to just shut the hole department down.
Posted by: Jeff B. on November 15, 2005 02:50 PMNovember 15, 2005
Open Letter to the University Community on Sexual Harassment
From Provost and Executive Vice President Robert C. Bates
Our influential work as educators and mentors is based on productive relationships between professors and students. Sexual harassment of a student by a professor severely damages that relationship and demeans our highest academic values.
We have set for ourselves a goal of creating an environment of trust and respect among all members of the University community. Sexual harassment destroys a trusting environment, putting in its place fear and anxiety.
So that there can be no misunderstanding, I am writing to all of you as Provost and Executive Vice President to communicate in the strongest terms possible that this institution will not tolerate discrimination of any kind, including sexual harassment. This policy applies to students, staff and faculty of WSU.
Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination on the basis of gender, and it is legally and morally wrong. Legally, it is not limited to one gender or one sexual orientation. It creates an unprofessional environment in which to educate students and in which to perform the work of the University.
None of us can tolerate harassment, nor can we ignore it. I want to remind all administrators that they are responsible for ensuring that their employees know the definition of sexual harassment and our policy against it. Training opportunities are available through WSU's Center for Human Rights (CHR). I also want to remind administrators that all complaints about sexual harassment must be reported to CHR, even if those complaints are resolved informally.
At the same time, I want to ask all victims of sexual harassment, and all members of the University community who know of such incidents, to report them to CHR. The University cannot take appropriate action against sexual harassment unless the incident has been reported. I understand that reporting of harassment may cause concern. At the very least, call the Center for Human Rights and seek a consultation. Please know that WSU will not tolerate retaliation for cooperation in reporting incidents of harassment.
WSU will take corrective and disciplinary action whenever incidents of harassment are reported and proven. The action taken will be of a nature to deter future offenses. In some cases, we may commence termination proceedings, even for tenured faculty. In other cases, faculty will be reprimanded and required to attend trainings as a means to prevent future offenses.
Additionally, the results of the harassment investigations will be communicated to victims. That includes sharing not only the CHR report, but also reporting the steps actually taken by the Provost, Dean or other supervisor in response to the report's recommendations. Such actions may include the following: warnings, letters of reprimand or censure, the denial of professional leave requests, salary reductions, suspension, and termination. For faculty, all sanctions will be carried out following the processes described in the Faculty Manual.
We will be sharing the quarterly reports from the Center for Human Rights with the campus community so that our employees and students can see that we are fulfilling our pledge to address sexual harassment.
I will lead a review of WSU's sexual harassment policy. I feel that it must be strengthened in several specific ways. For example, the policy should be amended to more clearly prohibit employees from engaging in or attempting to initiate an amorous relationship with those over whom they have any level of supervision. For faculty, this includes students. Also, timelines need to be developed for the implementation of disciplinary actions. Further input will be sought.
In conclusion, none of us will tolerate sexual harassment. WSU is committed to preventing its occurrence, and responding with appropriate discipline when it does occur.
I've known a lot of innocent folk be accused of sexual harassment. In one case, I was part of the people contacted when a co-worker was accused of it. Even though he got off, since there had been no such thing -- he ended up leaving the group over the stress.
Posted by: My Boaz's Ruth on November 15, 2005 03:51 PMThe only thing I find gratifying about this is that these crapheads are getting what they are dishing out. These sorts of professors help to create an environment of victimhood obsession and now they are reaping the rewards.
Really, Matt, you can do better than this.
Posted by: BananaLand (aka Iguana) on November 15, 2005 06:28 PMSuch presumptions are made to be punctured, at least occasionally. Given that the school's investigatory arm concluded the harrassment allegations against both the named and unnamed professor are true, the question now is if the Provost is rebutting the findings, at least re Gallegos, to protect a prized diversity hire and stonewall a really embarrassing situation that appears to cut to the core of liberal university hypocrisy.
Your view seems to be that sexual harrassment can in truth only be a form of harrassment against the accused. I think it's pretty clear cut in some instances what's harrassment and what's not.
Especially in this day and age, when a professor or supervisor comes on to a student or subordinate, using inappropriate language and/or touching, he's really acting stupid and probably deserves whatever hassles result.
Let me put it this way: grown men should really try to seduce their (female) equals, as opposed to someone who needs their approval for a grade, or to keep a job, or get a promotion.
I would be very careful about letting a mens' rights agenda lead me to conclude that each and every claim of sexual harrassment is inherently suspect until proven otherwise. True, validity must be actually determined, not assumed; but so must invalidity.
I can assure you that liberal and conservative males can sometimes engage in serious and reprehensible sexual harrassment against female underlings, that this has happened, and will happen again.
These things need to be looked at on a case-by-case basis, and the school needs to walk its talk on "diversity," "gender," "power" and "privilege."
Posted by: Matt R. on November 15, 2005 08:22 PMIf the allegations against Professor Bernie are proven in such a manner that even Bates and Mitchell are convinced, then the good professor should be banished from ever having contact with students again. It would also be nice to think that Bates and Mitchell would see that this is what happens when diversity is valued over actual qualifications during the hiring process. I bet looking into Bernie's past will show similar incidents, all of which were probably swept under the rug in the name of "cultural sensitivity".
The least the state party school could have done was to hold off on the pay raise until the issue was resolved. Otherwise it looks like Wazoo encourages the wrong sort of "advising" and "mentoring".
Posted by: Burdabee on November 15, 2005 09:48 PMNope. Sexual harrassment does occur, and it occurs in both directions. But, the definition has become so diffuse that it calls all claims into question.
Moreover, what you call a "men's rights agenda" - while that is part of my agenda - is also about the victimhood obsession that has permeated our culture. We can't all live smooth-as-butter, stress-free, and hassle free lives. If you are going to interact with people, you are going to have problems from time to time.
It's silly to criminalize every incongruency with a PC agenda.
Posted by: BananaLand (aka Iguana) on November 16, 2005 01:23 PMOf course. I would too. But, a couple of points.
First, when a law or set of laws is widely abused (and this is a fact in the case of sexual harrassment with which I doubt many people visiting SP will disagree), the rest of us have good reason to doubt all claims made under that law. This is truly the only way that reform of an abused law can occur. If we do not practice widespread doubt about all claims under a law, there will be no motivation for those that sponsor it and rely on it to make the changes necessary to wring out the corruption.
Second, the "other side" of this debate couches everything in the most extreme possible terms. Usually, they are the only voice that gets heard in the media and in the policy-making arena (despite their constant nonsense about not having a voice, getting a voice, or "Breaking the Silence"). In order to counter the other side and be heard, you can't do it with a whisper.
I'm happy to support calling all capital punishment cases into question because it is a proven fact that a sizable proportion of convicts have been cleared of guilt based on DNA evidence. I'm comfortable considering the possibility that an all white jury cannot give a fair trial to a black man from the ghetto. There is enough evidence of this that I don't want to see any all white juries when there is a black defendent.
And, in an environment in which gender feminists advocate that all claims of abuse, harrassment, and rape be considered true until proven untrue (proving a negative - almost impossible to do), I am also comfortable calling all claims of sexual harrassment into question. Scholarly research shows that at least half of all claims of rape, for example, are false. Given that fact, isn't it a bit unreasonable to follow a Nepoleonic "guilty until proven innocent" path in the justice system and especially on a college campus? And, given the nature of the WSU administration, it seems reasonable to me to have substantial doubt about anything they come up with in an investigation of this type.
Bring these things back into a rational sphere and I would be the first to call for punishment of a woman in authority who is using her position to convince a 19 year old boy to have sex with her.
Third, as you point out, this was investigated by WSU's Center for Human Rights. I suppose this is some sort of campus watchdog that is there to make sure nobody on campus has their human rights violated. That sounds like a pretty silly thing to me, considering that we are talking about a place where everyone that attends is among the most privileged humans on the planet. Yes even blacks, latinos, women, and poor people: they are on an American college campus, attending school while adults (however they are managing to do it), and thus experiencing something that less than 1% of global human population gets to experience.
Thus, I have a hard time believing that there are so many violations of human rights on the WSU campus that they actually need a special office to make sure it stops. The WSU CHR is a superflous organization intended to enforce an ideological point of view at the expense of Washington State taxpayers.
The last thing a public university should be doing is spending resources teaching students that they are victims. Why should they be teaching students to cry and whine over every perceived injustice.
They should be teaching them that everyone encounters friction, rough times, and a little injustice from time to time. But, historically, those that make the biggest contributions to humanity are those that overcome these inconveniences and get their job done. They should be teaching students that they are lucky as hell and should therefor endeavor to give back in the future.
So, Matt, if you want to point out the hypocracy of PC college campuses, using the example of their inability to pursue a sexual harrassment claim seems like a weak basis for your argument, especially when there are so many better examples.
Posted by: BananaLand (aka Iguana) on November 16, 2005 02:10 PMRacism is racism is racism. The only way to get rid of it is to judge only on merit. The stench is the hypocrisy and double-speak that have infected our universities.
Posted by: Jeff B. on November 16, 2005 11:22 PM