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On January 24, over a hundred Harvard students<\/a> walked out of Professor John Comaroff\u2019s first class of the spring 2023 semester. The action was in solidarity with\u00a0grad students who filed a lawsuit<\/a> against the university for what they allege is the mishandling of harassment cases against the academic. Comaroff, a tenured anthropology professor, was found to have violated the university\u2019s sexual harassment and professional conduct policies in January 2022, accusations he has categorically denied.<\/p>\n The protest was organized by a group of concerned students, Our Harvard Can Do Better, and the grad union\u2019s Feminist Working Group, according to campus paper The Crimson<\/em>, as well\u00a0as students from<\/a> Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard and the Harvard Student Labor Action Movement. Photos from the action,\u00a0published by The Crimson<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> show several students plastering a classroom with critical signs and weaving through the campus in protest.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the good of the university community and Harvard\u2019s academic mission, it\u2019s past time for Harvard to act,\u201d freshman Rosie Couture\u00a0said in a statement<\/a>, accusing Comaroff of \u201cundermining Harvard\u2019s value of creating an equitable, safe learning environment for all.\u201d<\/p>\n Lilia Kilburn, one of the three original complainants in the suit,\u00a0tweeted her support<\/a> for the action: \u201cAs someone who experienced Comaroff\u2019s misconduct firsthand, I am so grateful to see others spreading the word. This direct action is essential because Harvard only announced its sanctions against Comaroff to two departments. But everyone needs information and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n In June, the original lawsuit was\u00a0amended with additional accusations of misconduct,<\/a>\u00a0which Comaroff has denied. (Comaroff himself is not named as a defendant in the suit.)\u00a0Also over the summer<\/a>, Harvard attempted to have 9 of the 10 counts thrown out, arguing it shouldn\u2019t be liable for the retaliatory acts of faculty members.\u00a0<\/p>\n After two years of administrative leave related to the accusations, Comaroff\u00a0returned to teaching in the fall<\/a>, a move that was met with critical editorials from The<\/em> Crimson<\/em><\/a> and a walkout led by Harvard\u2019s grad student union, per the\u00a0Chronicle of Higher Education<\/a>. In September, the\u00a0US Department of Justice filed in support of the lawsuit<\/a>, on Title IX grounds, in response.<\/p>\n \u201cWe reject the widespread norm in which senior academic figures who jeopardize or end the careers of their junior colleagues through misconduct and retaliation are themselves subject to only mild and brief professional consequences, and are indeed supported by their peers,\u201d the grad union\u00a0wrote in a fall statement<\/a>, pushing for Harvard to delist Comaroff\u2019s courses and “make public its guidelines for imposing different levels of sanctions on professors found responsible for sexual misconduct.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n