More than 100 Harvard University students walked out of a class taught by a professor who was allowed to return despite internal investigations that found he had violated the schools sexual harassment policies.
John Comaroff, a professor of African and African American Studies and Anthropology, returned from a period of unpaid administrative leave to teach a 3 p.m. class on Tuesday.
A video shared by first-year student Rosie Couture shows Comaroff sitting at the front of a packed classroom as a student stands up and begins reading a prepared statement in protest. As she speaks, other students pull out paper signs reading “Comaroff is a Predator” and “Believe Survivors” and stand up. The group walks out, chanting, “justice for survivors.”
Comaroff was first placed on leave in 2020 after the university’s newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, reported that at least three female graduate students had accused him of sexual misconduct and professional retaliation.
A lawsuit filed against the school by Anthropology graduate students Margaret G. Czerwienski, Lilia M. Kilburn, and Amulya Mandava, alleges that Harvard ignored their allegations and failed to protect them from “sexual abuse and career-ending retaliation.”
The lawsuit alleges Comaroff “kissed and groped students without their consent, made unwelcome sexual advances, and threatened to sabotage students careers if they complained.”
Comaroff was again placed on leave during the Spring 2022 semester after internal investigations found he had violated the schools sexual harassment and professional conduct policies.
Our Harvard Can Do Better, the group that organized the walkout alongside the Harvard Graduate Students Union, is demanding that Comaroff resign, and that Harvard “end its complicity in cultures of harassment, misogyny, and discrimination.”
“John Comaroff has spent his career silencing and retaliating against students — thereby undermining Harvards value of creating an equitable, safe learning environment for all,” Couture said in a statement from Our Harvard Can Do Better. “For the good of the university community and Harvards academic mission, its past time for Harvard to act.”
“Its clear that someone with this record doesnt belong at Harvard,” said senior Austin Siebold. “We believe that John Comaroff should resign immediately, and we believe Harvard must take full responsibility for facilitating his abuse.”
