New U of California Panel on Harassment Sanctions

A new University of California panel will review, systemwide, all sanctions against senior officials for sexual harassment, The Los Angeles Times announced. The panel was created by Janet Napolitano, system president, after a series of sexual harassment scandals, the latest of which led to the resignation of the law dean at the University of California at Berkeley. In that case, and others, the university has been accused of giving minimal punishments until the cases became public. In a letter to the system's chancellors, Napolitano wrote that sexual harassment charges must be dealt with “firmly, fairly and expeditiously” and that “appropriate sanctions are imposed that recognize the serious nature of these claims.”