After allegations of harassment, CMU examines campus culture
In the wake of two high-profile professors resigning from Carnegie Mellon University and alleging harassment and sexism in the workplace as a factor, CMU president Farnam Jahanian is creating a new task force to oversee campus culture and respond to incidents that fall outside the school’s standards.
In an email circulated campuswide on Wednesday, Mr. Jahanian wrote that he is appointing the “President’s Task Force on Campus Climate” to make recommendations on steps that the university may take to support a “diverse, inclusive, equitable, respectful and understanding” environment.
Last Monday, Lenore Blum — a longtime computer science professor at CMU and director of the Project Olympus business accelerator — announced that she and her husband, Manuel Blum, also a professor in the School of Computer Science, are both resigning.
She cited “professional harassment” and “sexist management” on the school’s Oakland campus over the past three years asreasons for their departure.
Mr. Jahanian specifically referred to the resignations in Wednesday’s email obtained by the Post-Gazette.
“... Last week two members of our faculty on the Pittsburgh campus resigned from the university, citing concerns about the treatment of one of them in
the workplace. We are committed to thoroughly investigating those concerns, and to acting upon the findings,” he wrote. “This is an opportunity to check in with our community, reaffirm our commitment to our values and identify ways for us to do better in living up to them.”
A university spokesperson declined to comment beyond Mr. Jahanian’s email.
The task force will review current models in place to maintain a healthy culture on campus, including the Faculty Committee on Diversity, Inclusion and Development; reports prepared by the Faculty Senate; and recommendations from the Task Force on the CMU Experience.
Co-chairs of the new task force are David Danks, head ofthe philosophy department; Jodi Forlizzi, director of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute; and Michelle Piekutowski, associate vice presidentand chief human resources officer at CMU.
Mr. Jahanian said he expects the task force to set both long-term and shortterm actionable recommendations, as well as overarching strategies that will require time and resources.
In her resignation note sent last week to staffers in the School of Computer Science, Ms. Blum, 75, did not name individuals or give specifics. She did cite a “new entrepreneurial management structure on campus” as part of the problem, but did not expand on that.
She and Mr. Blum, 80, had been on sabbatical for the past year, meaning their resignations will be effective Aug. 31, 2019. Reached by phone Wednesday, Ms. Blum said she was pleased to see her letter has had an impact, although she’s not confident the task force proposal alone will lead to changes.
“I’ve been on many, many committees. ... I’m not sure they get anything done,” Ms. Blum said. “But I’m not against committees ... I am glad to see that they are taking this very seriously.”
Ms. Blum is the founder and faculty adviser for the university group “Women@SCS,” which has a mission to empower women’s academic, social and professional opportunities in the computer sciences.
Last year, the university’s incoming undergraduate class was composed of 51 percent women, meeting — and beating — gender parity for the first time. In his email Wednesday, Mr. Jahanian noted that his decision to convene a task force is partially based on the results of another one that he created while serving as provost in 2016 — the Task Force on the CMU Experience. He said the group conducted a one-year, campuswide review and made substantive recommendations for improvements to campus life that are currently being implemented. “That progress confirmed for me that this model for bringing people together for open and collaborative discussion and action-planning can effect real change, even amidst deeply complex issues,” he wrote.