Professor accused of sexual harassment steps down
William V. Harris, named in a sexual harassment lawsuit last month, has stepped down from teaching
According to a lawsuit filed earlier last month, distinguished professor of History, William V. Harris, kissed and groped a female graduate student. The lawsuit alleges that 79 year old Harris repeatedly pressured the student into sexual activity and tried to coerce her into intercourse. In addition, the lawsuit details a systemic dismissal and mishandling of the student’s complaints by members of the Columbia faculty and administration. The student stated that the combination of Harris’s prolonged harassment and Columbia’s mishandling of her case led her to leave her doctoral program and left her “emotionally traumatized”.
Columbia sent out an email to faculty members and graduate students in the history department announcing that Prof. Harris had “agreed with the university to withdraw from his teaching, advising and other student-related activities.”