UC panel to eye misconduct

University of California President Janet Napolitano is convening a committee of administrators, faculty and students to look at how sexual harassment and misconduct complaints against professors are handled.

The move came one day after famed UC Berkeley astronomer Geoffrey Marcy resigned his professorship following the revelation that the school had substantiated sexual harassment complaints against him from former female students without demoting or suspending him from his job.

In a letter to campus chancellors and the 10-campus system’s governing board, Napolitano said the case “highlighted the urgent need to review university policies that may have inadvertently made the investigation and resolution of this case more difficult.”

Napolitano cited as an example an existing policy that bars faculty members from being disciplined for actions that occurred more than three years ago.

Berkeley administrators cited that rule, among others, as a factor in their decision to strike an agreement that allowed Marcy to continue teaching but imposed strict boundaries on his interactions with students.