College campuses seem to be hostile environments for the rights of the accused. Now we’re starting to see professors denied due process the same way students often are.
University of California Berkeley law professor Sujit Choudhry was accused of sexual harassment because when he showed support for his executive assistant, he would hug her and kiss her on the cheek.
This was unacceptable to her, so she reported him. A settlement was reached and Choudhry was punished. But when the school came under fire for the accusation — and UC President Janet Napolitano herself came under fire for mishandling sexual misconduct complaints — Choudhry was subjected to a new, second round of punishment and investigations.
Choudhry resigned in mid-March after the second investigation was launched. Had he not, he could have faced being fired.
Choudhry was a hugger. Even his accuser — Tyann Sorrell — said in an email to Choudhry (the first time she even mentioned his conduct to him): “I know you do not mean anything by [your actions] other than, perhaps a warm and friendly greeting.”
But that didn’t stop UC Berkeley, in part because Sorrell had told them that Choudhry’s hugging and kissing became “a daily event, occurring five to six times a day.” Choudhry said he did so no “more than once or twice a week.”
Sorrell gave UC Berkeley the names of two witnesses, but those witnesses backed up Choudhry’s account.
“Over many months, one witness observed Choudhry kiss Sorrell on the cheek only once. The other saw a single hug,” wrote Peter Berkowitz at RealClearPolitics. “It is hard to understand how the frequent and egregious conduct alleged by Sorrell, utterly out of step with the contemporary university workplace, could have gone unobserved in a busy dean’s suite.”
Despite this, Choudhry expressed “sincere and deep remorse for the stress and unhappiness that he caused.” His sanctions included a 10 percent pay cut for the year, paying out-of-pocket for coaching related to workplace conduct, a written apology to Sorrell and monitoring from those who investigated him.
Choudhry accepted this punishment and hoped to put the matter behind him. He waived his right to appeal the findings or challenge the sanctions. Life was supposed to move on. But it didn’t.
Months after these sanctions were laid down, Sorrell filed a lawsuit against the school alleging they had mishandled her accusation. UC President Janet Napolitano was asked about the lawsuit by the Sacremento Bee’s editorial board the day after it was filed. She didn’t have the facts, yet commented anyway, and claimed Choudry “groped” Sorrell, even though this wasn’t alleged in the original complaint.
Napolitano, wanting to look tougher on the issue because she was also receiving criticism, ordered a new investigation to impose harsher sanctions against Choudhry nine months after the matter had been closed.
The school’s lawyer claimed that they had the right to reopen the issue because the first investigation was against Choudhry as an administrator — the dean of the Berkeley Law School — and the second investigation was against him as a professor, even though the complainant wasn’t his student.
Choudhry filed a grievance over the second investigation, but ultimately resigned. He had believed the matter closed, and considered it unfair because the school had not mentioned the chance of further possible sanctions.
But professors and administrators (Choudhry was both) are starting to get a taste of the harsh treatment students receive when accused of sexual misconduct. And it all goes back to federal interference in education, which wants the word of the accuser to be honored as gold. Actual facts don’t matter. All that matters is that a school look tough on the issue.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
