Graduate students suing Harvard speak up about sexual harassment

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In a case that’s making national headlines, three women in Harvard’s Graduate Anthropology program are suing the university, accusing school officials of ignoring and failing to protect students from sexual abuse and retaliation by a prominent Harvard anthropology professor. The suit claims that that Professor John Komaroff, quote, “Used his power and his perch at Harvard to exploit aspiring scholars. He kissed and groped students without their consent, made unwelcome sexual advances, and threatened to sabotage

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students’ careers if they complained.” The student at the center of many of the claims is Lilia Kilburn, who says Komaroff’s assaults on her started in twenty seventeen. The other two plaintiffs, Margaret Czerwinski and Amulya Mandava, say they faced career-upending retaliation after they warned the university of Kilburn’s accusations. All three say the university repeatedly brushed them aside and opted to protect its star professor over vulnerable students. And according to the suit, Harvard,

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in fact, knew of other similar accusations against Komaroff from his time at the University of Chicago when they hired him back in twenty twelve. For his part, Komaroff has categorically denied all allegations against him, which first went public in twenty twenty in an article in Harvard Student Newspaper, The Crimson. After that, Komaroff was put on administrative leave, and the university started investigating. But it was only last month that he was barred from teaching required courses or taking on new student advisees for the rest of the academic

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year after investigations found he, quote, “Engaged in verbal conduct that violated school harassment and conduct policies.” Margaret Czerwinski and Amulya Mandava join me now, along with one of their attorneys, Carolyn Gunther. Carolyn, Amulya, and, uh, Margaret, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Carolyn, could you tell us exactly what your client, Lilia Kilburn, contends that, uh, Komaroff did to her?

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Yes. Um, in our complaint, we allege that Professor Komaroff began a series of harassing actions towards Ms. Kilburn before she even enroll-enrolled at Harvard. Before she had enrolled, we allege, um, he kissed her on the mouth without her consent. Once she did enroll, on her first day of graduate school, he graphically described how she would be raped and murdered if she traveled to Africa, more specifically South Africa, as part of her fieldwork.

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And then later, throughout their advising relationship, he kissed her again, we allege, he groped her, and he increasingly isolated her from her other advisor.

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Carolyn, when was the university first made aware of these charges from Kilburn?

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Ms. Kilburn began reporting to individuals at the university, including the Title IX office and other professors, um, in twenty nineteen.

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Margaret, when did you first learn of what had happened to, uh, Lilia?

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Well, I first learned about Lilia’s complaints, um, in twenty nineteen, just before The Crimson article came out and reported on, um, systemic a-abuse in the anthropology department.

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And Amulya, was the same timeframe for you?

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Yes.

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What did you do, uh, starting with you, with you, Amulya? What’d you do when you found out about what, uh, Lilia said had happened to her?

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When I found out about what had happened to Lilia, as alleged in the complaint, um, I decided that it was time for me to join her in coming forward and reporting to professors in our department and the Title IX office, um, that I myself had had a conversation with Professor Komaroff in which he had threatened myself and Margaret here, um, with career-ending retaliation because we had been sharing warnings with students, um, in our department

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about his pattern of harassment and abuse.

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Margaret, what specifically did Komaroff say to the two of you?

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Um, well, I’ll– Actually, I’ll let Amulya answer that because he delivered the message to her directly.

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Okay. Amulya, what did he say? What did he say to you?

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Happy to answer that. Um, so after we talked a bit about a grant that I was working on, Professor Komaroff introduced a conversation in which he told me that he knew that I was talking about his sexual conduct with students at Harvard. This is in the complaint. Um, he told me, as alleged also in the complaint, that he could not have harassed these students that we were talking about because he had been sexually inactive for seven years due to a medical issue.

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Um, I– As you could understand, being alone with him in his office, was really disturbed to hear that. Um, as the conversation proceeded, he told me that multiple students who he named at the University of Chicago had also spread what he called rumors-

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Mm-hmm

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… about his behavior, um, and that they, as a result of talking about him, had had trouble finding jobs, and he said he didn’t want that to happen to me.

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Margaret, did you get any more positive response, more constructive response from anybody in Harvard administration?

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Truly, no. I mean, I told a professor in twenty seventeen, um, and they said that they couldn’t do anything. Um, I talked– I reported to Title IX in twenty seventeen, and they did nothing as well. So pretty much always the response we got.

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Carolyn, you filed this suit after Harvard completed its review. Its findings aren’t public, but you give– could you give us some reaction to what you know them to be?

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What we know that the conclusion to be is that Professor Komaroff was found to have violated, um, Harvard University’s Title IX policy.For engaging in a conversation about Ms. Kilburn’s rape and murder with her. And then a separate find– That finding was made by the Office of Dispute Resolution at Harvard, the ODR. And then a separate finding was made by an external investigator who was appointed by Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and

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Sciences- Mm-hmm … who found that Professor Komaroff violated the university’s professional conduct policy by having made this threat to Ms. Mandava.

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So they essentially confirmed some of the charges you were filing against them in their administrative procedure, but not all of them. What have they done? What sanctions have they taken against Komaroff, Carolyn?

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That’s exactly right. We believe that only… this is the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much more here. And as set forth in the complaint, much of the story and much of what our three clients bravely brought forward to the Title IX office and to the ODR was disregarded here, and two narrow findings were made. And the sanctions announced against him by Dean Gay, um, in January of this year were that he would be placed on an administrative leave for one semester, and then for the following academic year, he would be unable

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to teach required courses, and some limitations have been placed on his ability to advise graduate students. And, um, Dean Gay explained that after the twenty-two, twenty twenty-two to twenty twenty-three academic year, the decision would be revisited.

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So theoretically, at that point, the university could decide to reinstate him in some capacity?

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That’s possible. I believe that’s possible.

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Carolyn, you also allege that the university has a long history of failing to protect students from this kind of behavior beyond Komaroff. Could you fill in a few blanks there?

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We do allege that. As we explain in the complaint, our clients were aware, were of course aware of the conduct, um, that Professor Komaroff took against them as well as, uh, Ms. Kilburn. But beyond that, they didn’t have much knowledge. And then when the Harvard Crimson broke a story in the summer of 2020 that Professor Komaroff wasn’t the only one who was engaging in misconduct within the anthropology department, our clients learned that there were also serious allegations against Professor

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Bester and Professor Urton. And of course, we know that there is also a history, um, of misconduct that has been reported against Professor Jorge Dominguez. And we believe that this is all part of a pattern and practice, and that there’s been a culture of silence specifically within the anthropology department that is now coming to light finally.

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Margaret, what’s the im– what reaction do you get from fellow students when they hear not only about what was done to Lilia Kilburn, but about the retaliation you and Amulya are suggesting was directed at you? What’s the i– What do they say to you? What’s the impact on them?

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I mean, I think a lot of students are shocked, but they’re also experiencing similar things. And it’s actually really disheartening to hear how many people are experiencing this, both at Harvard and on other campuses across the country.

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And Amulya, uh, uh, the Globe reporting talks about thirty-eight professors at Harvard-

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Mm

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… a handful of whom are about as prominent as prominent get, who signed a statement in support of Komaroff, apparently without bothering to investigate what he was actually being charged with. What kind of impact did that have on you when some huge names in the Harvard academic community sided with this guy without apparently even trying to get your side of the story?

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Yeah, and I would add to that, that some of the people who signed that letter are professors who have mentored, um, employed or advised Margaret, Lilia and I directly, and yet we were not reached out to, you know, to find out the facts of the story before signing.

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So what’s your reaction to that? What’s your reaction to that? In a community-

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To-

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… that’s supposed to be so concerned, not o-only about decent treatment of people in their, their community, but also about fact-finding and doing things based on what’s real. What’s your reaction to that?

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I think on the one hand, it is a tremendous show of the power of a star tenured faculty member to mobilize a network that will retaliate against students. I think it also is a sign of a larger systemic problem at Harvard when famous tenured professors are willing to sign a statement such as that and risk chilling the speech of other students besides Margaret, Lilia and myself, who may, um, in many ways want to come forward, may have wanted to report,

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um, and now they’ve seen advisors of theirs-

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Yeah

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… have signed this letter, and they may never come forward now. And I don’t think the impact of this statement on student speech can be underestimated.

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Carolyn, what are you seeking in this litigation?

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More than anything, we hope to shine a light on what has been quiet and bubbling under the surface and ignored for far too long. As we allege in the complaint, there’s a history of misconduct here, much of which Harvard knew about, and we just hope that despite the retaliation that Amulya was just describing, that other students, other faculty, anybody who knows something or who’s been harassed, has the courage to come forward.

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Margaret, are you worried about what impact this all has on your career going forward?

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Um, absolutely. I think right now I feel as though I don’t have a career in anthropology moving forward.

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Why do you, why do you say that?

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J-John Komaroff’s network, as we’ve seen from this letter, is extensive. It’s in every major anthropology department in the world. And even with the backlash from this, there’s still reason to believe that he has the ability to influence hiring decisions at, at campuses.

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Amulya, do you share the same concerns that Margaret has?

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Undoubtedly, yes.

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I wish all three of you luck. I hope you’ll stay in touch with us. We’d like to stay on top of this story. Thank you so much for your time tonight. Appreciate it.

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Thank you very much.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.