Harvard faculty dean is out amid uproar
Professor helped defend Weinstein
BOSTON – A Harvard Law School professor who became a lightning rod on the Ivy League campus for working on the legal defense team of Harvey Weinstein has been let go as a faculty dean.
Neither Ronald Sullivan Jr. nor his wife, Stephanie Robinson, will continue as faculty deans of Harvard’s Winthrop House when their terms end next month, the university said Saturday.
Rakesh Khurana, dean of Harvard College, announced his decision in an email to residents of the school’s Winthrop House, calling the situation “untenable.”
Sullivan has been under fire from students since January when he emerged as one of the attorneys representing Weinstein in the media mogul’s upcoming trial on multiple sexcrime charges.
But the controversy surrounding Sullivan – who presides over the Winthrop House with Robinson, who also is a Harvard law professor – escalated further amid reports from the student-run Harvard Crimson newspaper about complaints against the couple since 2016 about their handling of house affairs.
“Over the last few weeks, students and staff have continued to communicate concerns about the climate in the Winthrop House to the college,” Khurana said in the email. “The concerns expressed have been serious and numerous.”
Harvard has faculty deans to lead and reside at each of its 12 buildings that house undergraduate students. It’s considered a powerful and prestigious position. Sullivan and Robinson were the first African Americans to serve as faculty deans at Harvard.
In response to the university’s decision, Sullivan and Robinson said they were “surprised and dismayed.”
“We believed the discussions we were having with high-level University representatives were progressing in a positive manner, but Harvard unilaterally ended those talks,” the couple said in a statement.
The couple added that they “will now take some time to process Harvard’s actions and consider our options.”
Harvard’s action does not change their status as law school professors.
Khurana called the situation “regrettable” and said not renewing Sullivan and Robinson as faculty deans is a “very hard decision to make.”
Sullivan, a prominent defense attorney nationally, had garnered calls for removal from Winthrop residents and other Harvard students who objected to his work for Weinstein, whose alleged actions helped ignite the #MeToo movement. Sullivan had defended his work for Weinstein by touting due process for everyone, decrying the country’s “long history of mob justice” and arguing that it’s even more important that “unpopular, vile, or undesirable” defendants have their rights.