Bad behavior from senior prof in my department and students have asked me for help

[Seashore2018]

Name changed for this as it's very sensitive and I am trying to keep it as anonymous as possible. But would really like advice from other women in academia, especially people who are in management positions and may have dealt with similar individuals.

The situation: Humanities field, RG university. Senior male professor in my department: charming, narcissistic, doesn't always pull his weight with admin responsibilities or marking etc but is esteemed by those higher up in the hierarchy, to the extent that he is given fairly important roles (some of which have the potential to impact on my research). There are various other things about our work which means that he and I sometimes have to work on things together: sorry to be vague here but trying not to out myself.

I heard a little while ago that he had had an affair with a student some years ago (consensual, I believe). Heard from one colleague and had it confirmed by another. Filed that away in my head with the usual 'don't be alone with him, don't put students in a position where they have to be alone with him', warned a few other colleagues who work in the same subfield, but otherwise just tried to distance myself, put my head down and get on with my work.

However. I can't put my head down any more as students have now come to me for help. The news of his affair (and perhaps others I don't know about) has come out and, understandably, none of them want to be associated with him/supervised by him and don't feel like they can go through the proper channels to ask this. I am extremely sympathetic to their plight - and think that they should have the right to work with scholars who aren't predators - but I am junior and fairly newly arrived, and don't know what is best to do. My HoD is not in a position to remove him - senior colleague outranks HoD and as I said, has friends higher up in the hierarchy. I could approach the person who is next in line in seniority, but how am I going to explain the basis on which I agree with the students? (I believe the person who told me about the affair, but I'd be effectively going to a very, very senior person with what is effectively gossip - I have no proof.) And what is more, there is some evidence that this colleague has already been relieved of some of his student-facing responsibilities (leaving more for the rest of us non-harassers to do, of course) so the institution likely knows already, and is still allocating women students to work with him.

I am determined to do something here, and to be an ally as best I can, but I just don't know what will best achieve that. I don't like gossip: I will listen carefully when told where the bodies are buried and will pass on things when I think the red flags are sufficiently serious to warn people about (ie. sexual harassment or other forms of exploitation), but otherwise really don't enjoy being put in the position of passing on, or acting on, hearsay. MeToo and TimesUp and the rest of it are changing things outside academia, which is brilliant, though I haven't yet worked out how this is shaking down in my corner of the academic woods.

I am all on board with the idea of calling out bad behavior where it appears and not sweeping things of this sort under the rug, so that academia can be a more equal and less hostile place. But it is not obvious how this works in the weird, heavily hierarchical university context. I know of a senior woman academic who will attack publicly and in a full-frontal way when she comes across things of this sort, and that approach just doesn't work in my disciplinary/institutional context: this woman has lost her credibility and gets treated like an unexploded bomb. I have the feeling there is some kind of strategy to getting the senior prof held accountable, or even better removed from our department - but have no idea what that might be. So, I've come to plumb the collective wisdom of Mumsnetted academia. Anyone?

I don't have any suggestions, but am watching with interest. I wish I knew.

In my field, the younger women have a whispered blacklist. I guess the older ones do too, but it's difficult to get it passed up and down because juniors and seniors don't discuss things like this. I passed on mine to my male well-respected prof, who was horrified to discover it was necessary. Since then I've actually been more open with male colleagues, most of whom have been very supportive. It's not going to stop the arseholes, but it might stop someone recommending them as a supervisor. I guess that just means that they end up with students who don't come from within the academic social circle and don't have the support network so are more vulnerable.

I think you need to encourage them to file formal paperwork requesting change of supervisor etc as normal.
This is essentially the same thing that got Steven Galloway in hot water and caused a giant rift in the CanLit community.
Female students should have the right to enforce their boundaries, and academics should not be trying to figure out ways around a situation where an existing process should be used.
I am not underestimating the price to pay for doing the right thing - the Steven Galloway saga nearly broke my department, with academics essentially having to decide whether their careers or their principles were more important. Most grad school lectures were taken over by discussion about activism, rights, and the collusion of departments in covering up the trail of males conducting inappropriate relationships (or worse) with female students.
Please do the right thing by your students.

I’m not sure what position you hold? I take it you’re not his manager?

I would tell the students if they have a complaint about him then they need to contact the course leader or their student support officer if you have one.

I’m unsure what the students are complaining about? That he had a consenting affair with an adult? Are they accusing him of trying it on with themselves as well?

I’m not sure how much an academic having an affair with a student is frowned upon these days? I’ve certainly never been told that I can’t date a student (I wouldn’t) but many years ago when I was a student other students shagging lecturers was quite common and nobody seemed to care.

I would honestly keep out of it and signpost the students to someone else in authority. If not you run the risk of the students suddenly not wanting to put their money where their mouths are and making you look like a troublemaker. That’s my opinion anyway, I’m not saying I’m right!

I’ve certainly never been told that I can’t date a student (I wouldn’t) but many years ago when I was a student other students shagging lecturers was quite common and nobody seemed to care.

Fortunately times have changed. It is now recognised that staff having sexual relations with students they teach or supervise is inappropriate: no staff member should be having a sexual relationship with students taking a taught cause and any staff member supervising a research student/postdoc should transfer their supervision responsibilities to somebody else if a personal relationship starts.

My university is not terrific about disciplinary action, but a sexual relationship with a student on a taught course would be a serious disciplinary procedure.

Well I agree that it’s good that it’s now taken more seriously and not allowed. Maybe I should have read my staff handbook more thoroughly when I started!

Argh this is very difficult, isn't it?

Just to give you a parallel.

We had a situation in my department with an academic member of staff covering up a serious issue that has stopped them from fulfilling their duties properly. We tried to help this person, and have repeatedly over the years stepped in & covered for them - to get the necessary work done. It's become clear that by trying to be human & compassionate, we've all been participating in the pretense that this person is doing their job.

It came to a head at Christmas, and it was clear that not only were they not capable of doing their job, but that the stress & extra work on other staff members was having a serious cost.

So we now have a policy of doing everything by the book. We are trying to stop dealing with it ourselves, and turning the whole situation over to the University service departments (such as HR for your situation, I'd think) whose job it is to deal with it. Our colleague may not continue to work, but the situation was becoming untenable for everyone, not just them.

It's tough but I think that you may have to sort out how and where you can follow up a proper process.

I am a great believer in students being off limits. I don't buy the "But they're adults" line. Technically, yes, but the power between students and older, male staff is so unbalanced - I just despise male colleagues who take up with students: can't they cope with women(or men) their own age & status.

As HoD, I've been at the cutting edge of having to manage a situation of a relationships between male staff and much younger female students. Twice. I have nothing good to say about my two male colleagues who did this. Meeting with the female students concerned, to let them know what steps we were taking to ensure that there was no perception or actual favour and that they could be sure they were getting their results without favour - ugh, I do not want to ever have to do that again.

And I also saw the fall out with other female students. They are often fragile, and seek our approval - one young woman said to me "Why did he pick her and not me?" That to me is one of the usually unacknowledged costs of men treating female undergraduates as their sexual hunting ground.

But you have to find out what the procedure is and follow it to the letter. Require that HR, the Student Union, whoever might be an official "stakeholder" in the transparency & equity of teaching do their work. So often, we academics think we can sort it out.

I know of a senior woman academic who will attack publicly and in a full-frontal way when she comes across things of this sort, and that approach just doesn't work in my disciplinary/institutional context: this woman has lost her credibility and gets treated like an unexploded bomb

Gosh, this could be me - although I am treated with respect, when I speak out, not an unexploded bomb. I argue my case, robustly, but it is not personal attack. You don't get anywhere with that. But I think I am known for calling a spade a spade. I see it as a feminist ethic to put my views openly where my politics are.

"Feminesse oblige" as one of my mentors calls it.

On the other hand, the female gossip network is a very effective weapon. Don't think academic men don't have similar networks - they are generally far less honourable than women are; far less honest usually.

So perhaps think about how you can mobilise a gossip network without behaving badly, and without 'convicting' someone on hearsay?

Do you have a network of senior female and right-thinking male colleagues? Can you seek out a bit of advice? As someone of whom advice is often asked, to be honest, it's very flattering that people respect one's opinion.

Thanks for the responses and the personal messages.

Answers:

I’m not sure what position you hold? I take it you’re not his manager?

I am a junior member of the dept (though on a permanent contract, so protected to some extent). He is a senior professor who has been in the dept for years. I am about as far from being his manager as it is possible to be. It is not a management culture in my field in any case (thank goodness) - being HoD is a thankless task people take on for as little time as they can get away with, and certainly do not impose jobs/penalties on colleagues who they'll need to go back to being equals with in a few years. That is part of the reason there's no point going to the HoD.

This is essentially the same thing that got Steven Galloway in hot water and caused a giant rift in the CanLit community.

I assume he's aware of cases like this, and the others on Karen Kelsky's list. I can't give too many details but he has spent a lot of effort making people feel sorry for him for something else, which reads as something of a pre-emptive defence.

I would tell the students if they have a complaint about him then they need to contact the course leader or their student support officer if you have one.

If only it were as simple as this. The students are very well aware of the correct channels, and unwilling to approach the people in the relevant positions. I completely understand this: they're well clued in, as graduate students often are, to who is friends with who. And even if they weren't, I remember in PhD days a friend who had an entirely legitimate reason for wanting to swap supervisor (her project had completely changed) who was petrified of being seen as a troublemaker, asking for special treatment, generating resentment from the original supervisor that would cause trouble for her later on, etc etc. It's a very real fear, that you may be jeopardizing your academic career before it's even gotten properly started.

@BorchesterTowers: thank you for the detailed response. I would like to think I share your feminist ethic. I am quite quiet and introverted and don't enjoy being the centre of attention, though I'll put myself there (and have put myself there) when it's necessary to stand up for what's right. I suppose what I find so difficult is that the women I see who do manage to effect change do it strategically: they don't use the official channels but instead the unspoken and unwritten rules of the institution, and never for a second do they lose their professionalism - which would be to lose their legitimacy. I don't care about being perceived as professional, legitimate etc for their own sake I just want to do my work, teach my students, and retire with a halfway decent pension except for the fact that I can see that professionalism and legitimacy is a powerful weapon when it comes to changing the culture of the place I work in. No one will give the unexploded bomb woman I mentioned in my first post the chance to sit on committees/meet with QA assessors etc. because they know she's a liability. The women who are allowed to be in, so to speak, the room where it happens, are the ones who can perform professional collegiality, and even friendliness to the people in power while sorting things out behind the scenes.

(Huh. I've just remembered that many year ago, at a previous post where I knew I would be leaving, I was much more upfront about the sexism/bias/general patriarchal bullshit around me. Lo and behold, what a surprise when they organised for the Athena Swan person to come in and interview people on a day when they knew I was out of the office. I think that's probably one of the things that, even buried in my memory until now, has shaped the way I think about navigating these kinds of things.)

I don't see how the students are going to get what they want unless they go through the correct channels, HoD (who is his line manager) and request transfers out of his supervision. I know students are very reluctant to do this and also it can be a problem finding other supervisors because it can make the student unfairly look like a 'problem'. But- realistically what can you do if they won't stand beside you or tell the tales they heard?

I personally would distinguish between an UG affair and one between, say, a PhD student and their supervisor. The first is totally unacceptable and hasn't been normal for a long while, the second many will say is unacceptable but I feel that once people reach their early-mid twenties, it's more a question of it not being unwanted or them not abusing their power- if that's not the case then I don't see it it as a massive problem if two adults get together, of course they should immediately have reported it and have any supervisory capacity removed as it's a conflict of interest. But others see any such relationships as essentially predatory and that may be the case for these students.

I think you are fairly powerless except to support them to come forward and use the channels that exist to move away from him. I don't see what else can be done if the student has left/it's all down to heresay and no-one wants to make a first hand complaint.