Cal suspends professor accused of harassment
UC Berkeley has suspended a prominent professor in the department of East Asian languages and cultures after finding in 2018 that he sexually harassed a student, told her his sexual preferences, described sex fantasies and created a hostile work environment for her, The Chronicle has learned.
Alan Tansman, a tenured professor who is well known in his field and has written or edited books on Japanese literature and culture, agreed to disciplinary measures on Nov. 20 that were described to his former student in a letter from UC Berkeley Vice Provost Ben Hermalin. It said, in part, that “Tansman will be suspended from his normal duties as a UC Berkeley faculty member for a twoyear period.” One year is to be unpaid, and the other partially paid.
The letter, obtained by The Chronicle, says Tansman’s unpaid suspension “represents a significant loss of income of over $190,000, in addition to a loss of all benefits, including service credit toward his retirement,” while
in the second year, “Professor Tansman agrees to forfeit all his sabbatical credits.”
What the letter doesn’t say is that Tansman has been granted a paid sabbatical for the second year, a perk that professors with seniority apply for in order to focus on research while free of the daily obligations of campus life.
His former student was appalled.
“He was able to broker a devil’s deal,” said the woman. “It’s an affront to anyone who reports sexual harassment.”
The woman’s allegations against Tansman were upheld in February 2018, in a confidential report obtained by The Chronicle. A campus investigator interviewed 38 witnesses, five of whom said Tansman had sexually harassed or flirted repeatedly with them.
Neither Tansman nor his lawyers responded to requests for comment. However, in its arrangement with Tansman, UC Berkeley agreed to make available a public statement that preserved his anonymity, and to include his denial. The statement, released to The Chronicle, said that over two years a professor engaged “in unwelcomed verbal conduct of a sexual nature that was found to be sufficiently severe that it created a hostile environment and interfered with a complainant’s study and work.” The statement added that the professor “denied, and continues to deny, the allegations.”
Also as part of the agreement, Tansman lost his endowed chair — an honor with financial support for research — and may not participate in department activities or access his office until July 1, 2020, according to the letter to his former student. He is barred from serving on new graduate student committees until June 30, 2022. But current students may continue working with him if they choose, although it’s unclear whether they will be told about Tansman’s situation.
The professor’s former student said the terms of the agreement raise questions about UC Berkeley’s commitment to reversing years of tolerance toward professors who sexually harass students and colleagues, a practice that many students and employees believed would end when Chancellor Carol Christ took the helm in 2017.
“This is a close droom deal between two men,” the former student said. “Someone with a long pattern of sexual harassment should have been fired.”
Campus officials said Christ was aware of the agreement. They declined to comment on the Tansman case beyond their prepared statement.
The Chronicle first reported the story about Tansman in May as part of an article about women who said they were harassed years ago by UC Berkeley professors still employed by the university. Now they were seeking delayed justice and asking the university to investigate their complaints.
In Tansman’s case, the student who complained had been his doctoral student from 2003 to 2007, and a postdoctoral fellow in 2008 and 2009. She tried to report the professor’s behavior in 2009, but was told she would have to find and persuade each witness to come forward, and write a detailed report on all that happened. She gave up.
In 2017, inspired by the #MeToo movement and an earlier wave of campus activism that forced the university to make it easier for victims to report predator professors, she filed a second report. This one prompted the investigation.
After interviewing dozens of witnesses, investigator Suzanne Taylor concluded that Tansman “made sexual overtures” to the student between 2007 and 2009, called her sexy and propositioned her. He told her he fantasized about having violent sex with a colleague, and said he regretted not having sex with a previous student.
Because the professor held a “position of influence,” Taylor wrote, it was difficult for students to object to his behavior. She determined that the professor had a “history of projecting feelings of attraction to his graduate students” and “acting on that attraction.”
In June, four months after Taylor issued her report, the California state auditor issued a report broadly critical of the University of California’s response to sexual harassment complaints. Among the concerns singled out in the audit was the length of time it takes to discipline faculty who sexually harassed students or colleagues.
The audit reviewed 23 cases at UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UCLA, and found that it took an average of 43 days to discipline staff after an investigation. But for faculty, the average time was 220 days.
Tansman’s agreement was finalized in November, 265 days after Taylor issued her report.
The office of University of California President Janet Napolitano is revising its rules to reduce the time to impose discipline, said spokeswoman Claire Doan, as is the systemwide Academic Senate composed of professors.