CBS Cancels Tenure Review For Lawsuit Prof

‘LIFE ADVICE:’ WALK AWAY FROM YOUR PROJECT AND KEEP QUIET

Fearful of jeopardizing hundreds of hours invested into her research, she initially hestiated to report Bekaert. But after Ravina alleges that she consistently rejected his sexual advances, Professor Bekaert allegedly sabotaged her work, using his veto authority to delay and undermine her research and publications. The more she resisted his sexual advances, she charges, the worse his behavior became. According to the complaint, he made it clear that he would stall Ravina’s publication efforts until and unless she gave in to his sexual advances, admonishing Ravina that if she changed course and were “nicer” to him, he would allow her work to proceed faster.

She first reported the harassment in May of 2014 to Vice Dean for Research Gita Johar which led to an initial meeting with Dean Hubbard the following month. “At the meeting,” the complaint alleges, “Dean Hubbard was confrontational toward Ms. Ravina and stated at the outset that there was nothing Columbia could do to help her.”

In mid-July, Senior Vice Dean Katherine W. Phillips met with her and pressured her not to pursue any complaints against Bekaert. She told Ravina to “forget about” complaining about the alleged harassment, excusing Professor’s Bekaert’s conduct by saying he was just ‘blunt’ because he is Belgian, the complaint alleges. Phillips, recalls Ravina, then suggested some “life advice,” advising Ravina to walk away from the data set project, despite her having spent several years working on it.

A FAST TRACK TO A TENURE REVIEW AFTER SHE RETAINED LEGAL ADVICE

On June 1, 2015, after Ravina retained legal advice, Dean Hubbard informed her that she would be on a paid academic leave for the upcoming academic year.. At Columbia, being placed on such a leave typically removes someone from the tenure clock for that year, according to her complaint. But then in late September, Columbia revoked the unpaid leave, claiming it had been a mistake.

Three months later, on December 17, 2015, the school informed her that her tenure process would begin immediately and run on an accelerated basis. She was told that her tenure submissions would be due in January 2016, giving her approximately one month to prepare materials that normally take tenure candidates many months to assemble, according to her lawsuit. Columbia also informed her that her tenure would be decided by March of 2016. More typically, it takes six months to a year.

A request for an extention was denied on Jan. 15. The next day, some 17 tenured faculty members advocated to the dean and provost that that her tenure clock be extended. On Feb. 24, Columbia again denied the extension and provided a March 1 deadline for her to submit her tenure package, according to the complaint. The school scheduled a March 30 meeting for tenured faculty members in her department to review and vote on her tenure application, even inviting her harasser to attend the meeting.

FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS, THE PROFESSOR HAS SOUGHT A PSYCHIATRIST’S HELP

According to her lawsuit, Ravina says she has experienced severe emotional distress. “She worries constantly about her career and feels despair and hopelessness as a result of Columbia’s abandonment,” according to the lawsuit. “Ms. Ravina has been humiliated time and time again as she had to repeat her story to Columbia administrators. She has recurrent insomnia, substantial weight gain, concentration problems, and intense feelings of desperation. Ms. Ravina’s social life and romantic relationship have also been adversely affected.”

Ravina disclosed that her emotional distress is so severe that, for the past two years, she has seen a psychiatrist weekly in order to cope with her symptoms. “She has no prior psychiatric history, and the sole reason Ms. Ravina began seeing a pscyiatrist was because of the sexual harassment and retaliation she experienced at Columbia,” according to her complaint. “Her psychiatrist diagnosed her with generalized anxiety disorder, and ther treatment has focused on the emotional fall-out from the sexual harassment and retaliation she has suffered at Columbia.”

In filing her suit against the university, Ravina had posed for photographs for at least three newspapers: The New York Times, The New York Post, and The New York Daily News, all of which ran stories on her unusual lawsuit. The lawfirm representing her in the case also dispatched a news release to seek publicity for her complaint.

‘AN OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT’ AFTER MEDIA REPORTS

“She has received numerous messages of support from those she knows and from others who learned of her plight through the press,” says Katherine Kimpel,   She is gratified by this outpouring of support and remains hopeful that this case will be the catalyst necessary for Columbia to do the right thing,” said Katherine Kimpel, managing partner at Sanford Heisler Kimpel, LLP.

“Enrichetta was and continues to be very brave,” added Kimpel in a statement provided to Poets&Quants. “She is motivated by her conviction that what Columbia did was wrong and that someone needed to speak up — not only for her own sake but also for the sake of other women at Columbia and in the profession in general.”

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