Open Letter regarding sexual harassment at Harvard University
UPDATE: click HERE to read President Faust's response to our open letter.
If you would like to sign this open letter, please add your name HERE. We welcome support from all members of the Harvard community, as well as solidarity from anyone who shares our sentiments.
Note: the list of signatories will be refreshed periodically.
March 6th 2018
Dear President Faust,
This letter follows last week's report in The Chronicle documenting decades of sexual harassment by Jorge Dominguez, Professor of Government at Harvard. We write as concerned members of the university to impress upon you the importance of Harvard taking a strong and unambiguous lead on this issue.
We would like to express our solidarity with those who have come forward to report their experiences. To others who have suffered similar abuse, who have been preyed upon, harassed, or exploited by those in positions of power, we stand with you. Whether you are at Harvard or other institutions of higher education, know that you have our unequivocal support. We respect and admire the courage it requires to share your story.
When students arrive at Harvard, they are told that the university 'is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy educational work environment'. Over the past three decades, Harvard has failed to live up to this commitment. The Chronicle has reported that at least three women informed human resources of misconduct by Jorge Dominguez. In these cases, as in others, Harvard has not kept its promise to protect those most at risk. The burden of responsibility to hold abusers accountable does not lie with the victims. It lies with those in positions of authority. We feel an apology is necessary to rebuild trust and to show that the university unequivocally supports those who come forward.
We have all been shocked by the allegations against Jorge Dominguez. Now we call on you to take bold and immediate action to address the power structures that have left junior faculty, students, and staff vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Harvard's record on gender inequality is shameful. Women make up just 30% of tenured and tenure-track faculty. In the Government Department, the proportion is just 22%. This imposes tangible costs on women in academia. Too often, the burden of dealing with the consequences of gender inequality falls on their shoulders. As a result, their time and effort are diverted away from research and teaching responsibilities. For women of color these burdens are even greater. Harvard has taken important steps towards eliminating gender inequality. But until women are properly represented in positions of power, a culture that tolerates sexual harassment will persist.
As members of the Harvard community, we commit to using our power and privilege to fight exploitation, harassment, and the abuse of women. We ask the administration to join us. This partnership can begin only when Harvard issues a full and unambiguous apology for its handling of this case. But we call on you, as President of Harvard University, to do more. Harvard has the opportunity to show leadership on this issue. Show those who have spoken out that they have been heard. Show women in our community you respect their right to work, learn, and teach in an environment free from harassment and intimidation. Show universities across the country that Harvard is committed to eliminating gender inequality and the dangerous culture it produces. Until you do so, Harvard will continue to fail those it is meant to serve.
Copies of this letter have been sent to incoming President of Harvard, Lawrence S. Bacow; Xiao-Li Meng, GSAS Dean; Michael D. Smith, FAS Dean; Jennifer Hochschild, Chair of the Department of Government.
Sincerely,
The undersigned
Signatories
Leah Downey
Alla Baranovsky
Priyanka Menon
Michael Zoorob
Michael-David Mangini
Shannon Parker
Meredith Dost
Elena Sokoloski
Anonymous
Jacob Brown
Reva Dhingra
Brian Libgober
Max Goplerud
Lowry Pressly
Jeremy Bowles
Mafalda Pratas Fernandes
Jeehye Kim
Manuel Melendez-Sanchez
Boram Lee
Jessie Bullock
Sarah S. Fellman
Jared Abbott
Aaron Kaufman
Shom Mazumder
Sophie Hill
Allison Myren
Hanno Hilbig
Olivia Woldemikael
Joshua Simons
Hannah Cohen
Sebastian Leape
Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
Mingyi Yu
Justin Pottle
Olivia Crough
Abigail Sage
Remington Hill
Julia Huesa
Priya Kukreja
Liam keohane
anonymous
Rocket Claman
Anton Strezhnev
Colleen Driscoll
Avishay Ben Sasson-Gordis
Alex Zhang
Belén Fernández Milmanda
Sam Imlay
Mitchell Kilborn
Kaneesha Johnson
Sina Hoche
Mary Rita Godby Ely
Kai M. Thaler
Albert Rivero
Tess Wise
Zeynep Pamuk
J. Andrew Harris
Alyssa Huberts
William Tilleczek
Rachel Gosselin
Alissa Hiener
Gabrielle Malina
Mark Hill
Rakeen Mabud
A. Brandt
Haden Smiley
Andrew M Leber
Noah Wagner
Ana Karla Cepeda Diaz
Scout Leonard
Caiseen Kelley
Quinn Mulholland
Shanna Weitz
Norah T. Storniolo
Madeleine Tessier-Kay
Catherine Zhang
Joe Muller
Brodi Kotila
Anonymous
Amanda Powers
Hye Young You
Jaclyn Kaslovsky
Georgina Evans
Jason Sclar
Anna Stansbury
Rebecca Goldstein
Chris Chaky
Gabriel Koehler-Derrick
Peter Volberding
Briitta van Staalduinen
Thang Diep
Muharrem Aytug Sasmaz
Daniel Rivera
David Romney
Matias Lopez
Pamela Ban
Samantha Acker
Stephen Pettigrew
A. Nilesh Fernando
Mayuri Chaturvedi
Niharika Singh
Diana Draghici
Austin Strange
Remedy H. Ryan
Paige Coolidge
Saumya Chatrath
Jessie Laurore
Michael Olson
Cecilia Nicolini
Michael Rybicki
Alexis Brown
Yeling Tan
Eva Rosenfeld
Ethan Raker
Jasmine Olivier
Minahil KHan
Jean-Christophe Spiliotis
Jacob Hoerger
Kevin K. Banda
Ana Catalano Weeks
Sam Heller
Madison Deming
Jocelyn Fuentes
Justin Bloesch
Liliana Gutmann-McKenzie
Abigail Weil
Laura Gorman Thomas
Adrianna Ely
Yanet Gomez
Sam Atwell
Kristin Bryant
Eleanor Dodd
Emily Mower
Salma Abdelrahman
Kathryn Holston
Christian Zambaglione
Gabriel Tourek
Nora O'Neill
Holly Dykstra
Scott Collier
Edmund Flanigan
Sarah E. James
Elena Ayala-Hurtado
Zain Ul Abideen Shahid
Abby Lyons
Rohit Chandra
Madeleine Jennewein
Katherine Medina
Bryan McGuffie, PhD
Abraham Holland
Alex-Maree Roberts
Nicholas Short
Layla Kousari
Edward Ngai
Jack Nicoludis
Samantha Luce
Dana Higgins
Margaret Schwenzfeier
Sarah Lockwood
Abraham Baldry
Joan Cho
Alix Winter
Anonymous
Melita Marie Garza
Elizabeth Hubbard
Ronni Gura Sadovsky
Grace F. Evans
Kimberly Wortmann
Morgan Spaulding
Cara Kupferman
Stephanie Lam
Julia Sweeney
Nirav Sookhai
Kara Chyung
Michelle Borbon
Riya Sood
Emily Clough
Harrison Li
Amy Rohlfing
Ayush Midha
Mary Elston
Patricia Manos
Charlotte Lloyd
Matt Donovan
Matthew Reichert
Mary Elston
Isabel Harbaugh
Aidan Connaughton
Yueran Zhang
Dina Montemarano
Marianne Potvin
Samantha Burn
Amanda R. Kreider
Missy Dreier
Monica Bell
Francesca Bellei
Michal Hasson
Mo Kim
Michela Schena
Darin Self
Mirya R Holman
Emmalie Langan
Colleen Yout
Soeren J. Henn
Alex Ahmed
Lisa Xu
Allison Lau
Ernesto Calvo
Sophie Feldman
Yon Soo Park
Leah Liu
Malini Bose
Katherine Emley
Averell Schmidt
Sakura Christmas
In Young Park
Melissa Barber
Bob Payne
Cheryl Campos
Haeeun Jee
Peter Bucchianeri
Gracie Western
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Cailey Martin
Chengru Long
Marissa Rodriguez
Jen Xu
Connor Bridges '20
Dorothy Villarreal
Sarah Ryan
Natalie Purcell
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Paul Lisker
Anna Zhou
Alex Matthews
Hubert Remillard
Devontae Freeland
Shelby Grossman
Fiona Fitzgerald
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Michael Gill
Haemin Jee
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Scott Zhuge
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Eunsil Oh
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Ania Aizman
Matthew D'Ambrosio Griffith
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Yunan Ji
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Tarryn Chun
Mo Torres
Eun Se Baik
Rodolfo A. Diaz Cabello
Caitlyn Dang
Maria Victoria Paredes
Hernán Flom
Vivekae Kim
Anonymous
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Sav Miles
Avery Davis Bell
Jonathan Suh
Anonymous
Anonymous
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Courtney Wittekind
Andres Uribe
Meredith Pong
Samantha Heavner
Dominique Cantave
Peyton Benac
Ellen Li
Katrina Forrester
Aaron Bekemeyer
Rosi Greenberg
Esther Jeon
Kara Kaufman
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Sietse Goffard
Amelia Yasmin Goldberg
Elizabeth Fryman Patton
Sean Luna McAdams
RL Barnes
Samuel Ewing
Amy Catalinac
Cynthia Luo
Alex McDowell
Ata Amponsah
Katherine Cali
Natalia Cote-Muñoz
Ben Appleton
Liam Klein
Cassandra (Casey) Thomson
Stefan Norgaard
Anonymous
Anonymous
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John Lovett
James Rosenberg
Tobias Garnett
Adam Hawksbee
Manon Garcia
Alex Batchelor
Nicole Paulet
Moya Chin
Frina Lin
Erin Sielaff
Jennifer Hegarty
Antonella Bandiera
Amelia Apgar
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Emily Hickey
Paul M. Bangiola, Jr.
Maya Sen
Catherine Zhang
Christopher Marks
Elijah De'Vaughn
valentina frasisti
Ricky Sharma
Ira Guha
David Hernandez
Casey Kearney
Anonymous
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Annie Donolo
Jack Yan
Guy Grossman
Samantha Gamble
David Hawthorne
Kirsten Weld
Hannah Walker
Veronica Santana
Grace Palmer
Lulie El-Ashry
Amanda Clayton
Rebecca Gourevitch
Tessa Green
Robert Lothman
Oscar Pocasangre
Margot Mai
Anonymous
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Daniel Schlozman
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Carly Mayes
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Soubhik Barari
Tania Fabo
Riley Carney
Jana Pohorelsky
Ellen Key
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Jang Lee
Felix Owusu
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Alexander Hertel-Fernandez
Charles Petersen
Zachary Steigerwald Schnall
Gabrielle Preston
Colin Brown
Georgia Whitaker
Linda M. Schneider
Janet Song
Oeyvind Skorge
Nicole E. Granath ’15
Maggie Doherty
Debbie Sharnak
Marina Magloire
Katie Monroe
Eric Tarlin
Monnikue McCall
Katelyn Li
Catherine Marks
Jesse Gubb
Asia Stewart
Miranda Feliciano Tyson
Sam Klug
Benazir Neree
Patricia McGarry
Vessela Hristova
Da In Choi
Jean Marc Goguikian
Laura Chang
Amie Garcia
Cristina Groeger
Karely Osorio
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Eyck Freymann
Ka Ya Lee
Julia Lu
Akina Younge
Sarah Coady
Anonymous Survivor
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Jean Marc Goguikian
Laura Chang
Amie Garcia
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Melissa Sands
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Ajibabi Oloko
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Dilhan Perera
Paulina Haduong
Caroline Kaufman
Patrick Gauding
Helen Ho
Abigail Modaff
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Ellora Derenoncourt
Jennifer Diascro
Nishant Subramani
Alison Taylor
Yuqian Chen
John Marshall
Annabelle Hutchinson
Rebecca Kreitzer
Adrianna Stanley
Matthew Blackwell
Ghada Amer
Mirza Uddin
Gabe Gladstein
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Ryan McMahon
Laura Gorman Thomas
Erin Hutchinson
Anne Mills
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Angie M. Bautista-Chavez
Yuhua Wang
Jada Lee
Jingyun Dai
Shuk Ying Chan
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Renae Ford
Joanna Liu
Bridget Grimm
Aditi Chitkara
Linda Liedel
Luis Álvarez
Elizaveta Fouksman
Eric Stephen
Eleanor Knott
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Sabrina Khan
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Laura Dean
Cass Hastie
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Corban Ryan
Hannah Shen
Regan Smurthwaite
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Isabel Lapuerta
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Blair Read
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Will Bonnell
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Charlotte Cavaille
Erin Baggott
Emily Ausubel
Ariella Kahn-Lang
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Gemma Collins
Ben Tarnoff
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Iza Ding
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Meredith Loken
Lucas Cocco Delgado
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Hadley Weiss
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Michael Hankinson
Connor Phillips
Yoshiko M. Herrera
Jon Price
Sean A. Bryant
Galen Murray
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Yuki Zbytovsky
Abigail Niebuhr
Macy Loring
Chloe Do
Jenna Pelter
Michael Gribben
Irenee Beattie
Corey Whitt
Mackenzie Israel-Trummel
David Loring. Biology Professor.
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Alex Dyzenhaus
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Sydney V. McDonald
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A Thornton
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ilkim karakus
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