The professor, Jorge I. Domínguez, 72, was the subject of a Feb. 27 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education that reported that at least 10 women had accused him of sexual harassment. A subsequent article, published on Sunday, reported that additional women — including Harvard professors, students and staff members — had come forward alleging inappropriate behavior by Dr. Domínguez, bringing the total to 18....That's a retirement, in my book. He gets his pension, doesn't he? I don't see why the press can stick the "resigns" label on him when he can take retirement. Nobody forced him out (and I'm sure if they did, they'd only force him into retirement).
Late Sunday evening, Michael D. Smith, the dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, sent an email to the university community announcing that Dr. Domínguez had been placed on leave while Harvard investigated the allegations. In a brief email to colleagues on Tuesday, Dr. Domínguez announced his resignation, which he described as his retirement, effective at the end of the semester.
I blogged about this controversy 2 days ago here, where I also participate substantially in the comments to say that the institution should be held to account for the decades of harm in tolerating and facilitating this behavior (assuming the allegations are true). A 72-year-old man retiring is nothing, and the NYT intensifying the consequence to "resigns" is some kind of stupid Harvard-coddling joke.
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His career is ruined, but he can take up commenting.
Women do seem to be single-minded, if you want to call susceptibility that.
He clearly should have been placed in the stocks in the campus quad.
Typical of the protect your own attitude of academia. Corporations got over that when the price got to high. The same should happen to the academy. Expecting the NYT to call a spade a spade? Don't hold your breath.
Disney once did a demonstration of women's political action.
They set out hundreds of mousetraps, each with a ping pong ball lying on it.
They tossed a single ping pong ball onto the collection.
All hell broke loose.
Each mousetrap felt empowered.
"A 72-year-old man retiring is nothing, and the NYT intensifying the consequence to "resigns" is some kind of stupid Harvard-coddling joke."
I think they are more interested in piling on the man than protecting the institution, and it may well be that he was effectively "forced out".
We can assume Dr. Domínguez is Hispanic. And you know what lotharios they are.
Does he get a pension of some sort?
Saw a repeat of Big Bang Theory last night. Its the episode where Sheldon gets accused of Sexual Harassment and has to meet with the HR person about it. HR person turns out to be a black woman and Sheldon keeps putting his foot in his mouth. Really really funny stuff for those that don't take themselves too seriously.
When people don't retire at age 65, they are stealing jobs from the next generation.
People don't live forever, so you need to get out and get on the government dole.
If you sexually harass people, get out sooner rather than later.
Retiring and resigning are not mutually exclusive. If the Professor was still accruing pension credits, as is likely, then retirement was not nothing. Al Franken, age 66, could be said to have been allowed to retire from the Senate.
It is quite noteworthy that this guy apparently inflicted highly unwanted behavior on so many people for so long without consequences. I would suggest that this is at least in part because the possible consequences are so severe. People are reluctant to make an accusation that can destroy a career, and they realize that doing so will start a war in which people will take sides, and someone will be seriously damaged. Given the difficulty of proving the accusation, prudence counsels against making it.
The proposed solution seems to be that we should accept all such accusations without proof. "Believe All Women", is how I think it is phrased. I could see how that solution would appeal to women, given their propensity for having things both ways.
I have a less radical solution, one with a long record of successful application. We will simply say that a man's testimony counts for half of a woman's. So, when the accusation is leveled, he is guilty unless a couple of his friends testify that he isn't. Then she can get her friends to testify that he is, and so on. I think this solution is already being implemented informally, with the frequent invocation of "She didn't go to the police, but she told friends at the time".
Nonapod said...Does he get a pension of some sort?
He gets a fantastic pension. Well, unless he is divorced, and then your money may vary.
Yawn - that was a foregone conclusion.
We will know that H is serious about this if/when they publicly fire for cause administrators who knew about this (still want to know how many complaints were filed) and did absolutely nothing and/or just covered it up. Harvard rarely really investigates anything when it doesn't want to know the answer. I expect the same here.
"We can assume Dr. Domínguez is Hispanic. And you know what lotharios they are."
Yes, and more than that, he's Cuban.
And yes, they are, and it goes double for Cubans.
Ah! A pleasure to put a face to the voice and a body to that face. Sorry. I'm doing a course on misogyny to stop all that. That just popped out. Won't happen again...
Look, I mean this completely as a compliment, but you have the perfect-sized knockers. I mean, they're just the size. Sorry, won't happen again...
All right, enough chit-chat. I'm gonna do some recon. I'll meet you in the afternoon. Stay out of trouble, super boobs. I'm sorry. That one is a step over the line...
Gun Shy (2017) ongoing joke
"He gets his pension, doesn't he?" A Public U comment. Does Harvard still do "pensions"?
Virgil Hilts said...
"Harvard rarely really investigates anything when it doesn't want to know the answer. I expect the same here."
Hmmm... They got rid of Larry Summers pretty quickly, when he pissed off the female help.
He retires effective at the end of the semester. In the meantime he's on leave, meaning he collects all his pay and benefits but doesn't have to teach or attend meetings. The horror!
Also interesting is the ideological angle.
I have been looking over some of his publications.
Leaving aside the academicisms, its all a pretty even series of expositions on recent history, without much if any politico-ideological axe to grind, though vaguely left. He is no real third-worldist, nor does he excuse Latin-American foolishness, incapacity or incompetence. He is a devoted institutionalist and international agency sort, the kind of guy who gets anthologized by Francis Fukuyama and publishes articles in Foreign Policy.
He has some good stuff, if you care for analyses of recent Latin American history.
He is also, after all, Cuban, a post-1959 refugee or at least an exile.
Overall, not a man of the current academic zeitgeist, especially not, I think, in his field.
My paranoia tells me that this may be a prime reason for getting rid of him. The long march through the institutions may require that his rather significant position in the "deep state" (as a significant adviser to US foreign policy in that area, if nothing else) go to someone more sympathetic.
Sexual mores can change rapidly. Look how fast people's attitudes towards gay marriage changed. In the reverse direction, look how fanny pinches have become an intolerable crime. The prof involved was probably involved in misconduct, but at the time he engaged in such conduct, he probably considered it playful mischief. Timing is everything. Opposition to gay marriage became the mark of a troglodyte when Obama finally got around to approving it. In like manner, fanny pinches only became intolerable after Trump was elected President. In the interests of justice, this professor should only be punished for those fanny pinches committed after Trump became president.
He is, apparently, THE Latin-American policy guy at Harvard.
So not nobody.
His page, with at least some of his papers, articles, etc.
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~jidoming/
There is always a reason for everything.
And that reason is rarely trivial, unless it is simply some truly powerful person being whimsical.
I suspect that the reason for this is in that list of publications.
"Resigns? You mean retires."
No, I think you mean moves on to a chair at a university south of the border or an NGO.
With his pension in tow and intact.
Jupiter said... "Hmmm... They got rid of Larry Summers pretty quickly, when he pissed off the female help."
Jup, in a way I think the LS example proves my point. People were "outraged" by his speech. Nobody at Harvard investigated or wanted to investigate whether what Larry Summers said was actually supported by scientific research. It was and still is today. But facts do not matter when feelings are hurt. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-how-and-why-sex-differences/201101/how-can-there-still-be-sex-difference-even-when-there-is
Why can't Harvard Professors act normal? Dominguez is groping people, Lessig is suing people and Tribe is irrationally fulminating about Trump on Twitter.
It looks like Harvard has a 403(b) plan for faculty (which is essentially a 401(k) for non-profits) rather than a defined benefit pension. The money in that account is his. He could rape Larry Summers in the middle of the Harvard Square and it would still be his.
This becomes effective at the end of the semester, so he has pretired, or presigned.
"He could rape Larry Summers in the middle of the Harvard Square..."
...and I would pay money to see that.
Scott:. Eeewwwwwww.
That's even grosser than short hair on women.
rhhardin said...
Disney once did a demonstration of women's political action.
They set out hundreds of mousetraps, each with a ping pong ball lying on it.
They tossed a single ping pong ball onto the collection.
All hell broke loose.
Each mousetrap felt empowered.
That was Disney? They showed that on in every science class I took in Jr High School at least once a year to demonstrate nuclear fission.
" A 72-year-old man retiring is nothing, and the NYT intensifying the consequence to "resigns" is some kind of stupid Harvard-coddling joke."
True. But does he still get invited to the right parties?
Retires with a nice pension. As I suggested in the other thread.
The NYTimes is protecting the Harvard name here by saying he is resigning. It's nothing of the sort. He's retiring, and he should've a long time ago (in which case this would not have come to light; so let's just say he doesn't have David Letterman's superior timing).
William is on to something: " In the interests of justice, this professor should only be punished for those fanny pinches committed after Trump became president."
Think about it. All you have to do to alibi yourself for any crime is to identify a prominent person who has done the same act, especially if they have been publically moralizing on the topic, and you are out, "guilty as sin but free as a bird". And you can get absolution years down the road, too, if the public-person isn't found out until later.
Got a lot to recommend it, that does. Who wouldn't want to live in that society?
The NYTimes is protecting the Harvard name
Neither the NYT nor Harvard has a name to protect.
Viagra made him do it.
"He could rape Larry Summers in the middle of the Harvard Square..."
Ah, but would it be rape rape? Or just plain-vanilla-run-of-the-mill rape? Would Summers fight back or think about it for a few weeks, decide he hadn't enjoyed it, and only then call it rape?
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