You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
The University of Rochester’s Faculty Senate voted this week to censure Florian Jaeger, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences accused of harassing female graduate students and creating a hostile work environment. The university cleared Jaeger of wrongdoing, as did a recent independent investigation funded by the university. Student and faculty critics have called the investigations flawed, pointing to the fact that even the outside review determined Jaeger had engaged in inappropriate and unprofessional -- if not illegal or policy-violating -- behavior between 2007 and 2013. The censure motion says, in part, that Jaeger’s behavior “resulted in significant harm to students, the affected department and the broader university community. We condemn this behavior in the strongest possible terms.” The resolution includes a vow to evaluate and revise relevant policies and procedures to ensure student and employee safety going forward.
The senate also voted to condemn the university’s having searched the email accounts of Jaeger’s faculty critics and shared them with their department chair. Sara Miller, university spokesperson, told the Democrat & Chronicle Jaeger remains on paid leave for the semester but will be continue his research, “including working with students in his lab so that they may complete their graduate studies.”
Steve Modica, Jaeger’s attorney, said in a statement that the senate’s vote is “the result of an alarming rush to judgment. It was based on emotion, rumor and a well-designed public relations campaign” on the part of Jaeger’s critics, some of whom are suing the university over its handling of the case. “Senate members have made themselves arbiters of morality” on campus, enmeshing themselves in the ongoing civil case, he said.
