UCSC taking steps after professor sexual misconduct
As a professor is on leave for sexual misconduct, UC Santa Cruz staff is trying to move forward with how to prevent that from happening in the future.
On Thursday the school held a “Beyond Compliance Forum” to talk about what the school is doing to prevent sexual harassment and violence. It was also an opportunity for students and staff to ask questions.
Officials were expecting some tough questions about UCSC Professor Gopal Balakrishnan who was placed on paid leave after investigators found he violated the schools sexual harassment policy.
About 50-60 people went to the forum. Some students and staff talked about how the could better communicate with each other.
Students we spoke with before the forum say they were angry Balakrishnan was still getting paid.
One student saying, “it infuriates me. I’m wondering why like why do they have to pay him while he’s on leave.”
She also said, “You see the amount of claims made not just by students, but also by his coworkers, so that should be enough. Why aren’t we believing these students and coworkers. He needs to be held accountable.”
UCSC spokesperson says they hope conversations like these keep the conversation about sexual harassment open, “To make sure we are coming together to share what we are doing and really hear feedback about how we can improve our practices. This is something we really want to make sure that we’re getting right and we want to hear the communities feedback, we want to help answer their questions. We want to really make sure everything we are doing is aimed at fostering an inclusive and welcoming campus community where sexual violence has no tolerance whatsoever,” says Scott Hernandez Jason.
Student Sarah Keil said while she doesn’t always feel heard as a student, she thinks meetings like these help.
“It’s really important for us to have conversations as much as we can do that people that may be victims know that there are others that are looking out for them and know that their story can be heard,” says Keil.
