CBS professor files sexual harassment suit against the university
She claims a superior made sexual advances toward her
Last Tuesday, Columbia Business School Assistant Prof Enrichetta Ravina filed a sexual harassment and gender discrimination lawsuit, naming Columbia University as the defendant.
The plaintiff claims she was on the receiving end of sexually inappropriate conduct from her superior, Geert Bekaert, who is the Leon G. Cooperman Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School.
Bekaert, she alleges, would talk to her about the kind of porn he likes to watch, along with stories of past sexual exploits, which eventually led into direct sexual advances toward her.
Prof Enrichetta Ravina
He had originally helped her gain access to a data set from a company he used to work for, which is crucial to her current research.
When she curved him, she claims he began impeding the pace of her research and that he has the ability to influence the company to revoke access to the data altogether. Prof Ravina is also currently up for tenure review.
Prof Ravina also claims her complaints to the administration about his behavior fell on deaf ears and that she was even mocked for doing so.
One dean she claims referred to her complaints as a “soap opera”, and she was eventually encouraged by another dean in the department to abandon her research project entirely.
Bekaert denies allegations he made sexual advances toward her. In a statement obtained by the New York Times, Bekaert said: “I am sickened that a colleague — I was never Prof Ravina’s supervisor or superior — would manufacture false stories, statements and events and attempt to destroy my reputation.”
In a shocking turn of events, the university declined to comment on the matter and instead chose to go with their usual boilerplate statement of “the university treats allegations of harassment with the utmost seriousness”.
Prof Ravina is currently seeking $20 million in damages from the lawsuit and would like more time to apply for tenure.