Yale's poor handling of faculty sexual harrassment case

NY Times     A sexual harassment case that has been unfolding without public notice for nearly five years within the Yale School of Medicine has roiled the institution and led to new allegations that the university is insensitive to instances of harassment against women.

The case involves a former head of cardiology who professed his love to a young Italian researcher at the school and sought to intervene in her relationship with a fellow cardiologist under his supervision.

A university committee recommended that he be permanently removed from his position, but the provost reduced that penalty to an 18-month suspension.

After that decision, The New York Times obtained extensive documents related to the case and interviewed 18 faculty members who expressed anger at how it had been handled, with no public acknowledgment of wrongdoing. After The Times contacted Yale last week, the university announced that the former cardiology chief, Dr. Michael Simons, “had decided” not to return to his post.

The case involving faculty at one of the nation’s leading medical schools comes as dozens of colleges are under scrutiny by the federal government for their handling of sexual misconduct allegations against students.