Of course, this is hardest for Geoff in this moment
Azeen Ghorayshi, who broke the Geoff Marcy story on BuzzFeed, now reports that faculty and students at Berkeley are steaming.
The astronomy faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, released a statementlate on Monday saying that famed astronomer Geoff Marcy should no longer be a professor at the university.
…
“We urge the UC Berkeley administration to re-evaluate its response to Marcy, who has been found in violation of UC sexual harassment policy,” the 23 faculty members said in the statement. “We believe that Geoff Marcy cannot perform the functions of a faculty member.”
They’re pissed off that the university has done nothing about Marcy.
Grad students and postdocs want him to be put under restrictions.
“The University’s failure to impose meaningful consequences on Geoff Marcy — offering instead vague threats of future sanctions should the behavior continue — suggests that Berkeley’s administration values prestige and grant money over the well-being of the young scientists it is charged with training,” they continued.
Doesn’t it sound just exactly like Randi talking about Shermer? “If he does it again, I might have to speak sharply to him” sort of thing. But he already has done it again; why is it always jam tomorrow?
The graduate students were particularly upset over the leadership of the department’s interim chair, Gibor Basri. On Saturday, Basri sent out an email to the department.
“This has been a day of drama and difficulty for many of us, each in our own way and with our own context,” Basri wrote. “It is hard to process for those who know Geoff well.”
“Of course, this is hardest for Geoff in this moment,” he continued. “I ask that those who have the room for it (now or later), hear him out and judge whether there is room for redemption in all that will transpire.”
Ohhh…wow. Hardest for Geoff. You incredible fucking asshole.
They include a pointed tweet by Katie Mack at that point:
Katie Mack @AstroKatie
In case you’re wondering if the rest of the e-mail somehow makes things better, no. No compassion for victims.
12:00 AM – 10 Oct 2015
Wow.
“It is hard to process for those who know Geoff well.”
Yeah, ‘cos in my experience, when you work in a guy’s lab. almost every day for 3-4 years, and he harasses you and others (sexually and/ or otherwise), you don’t get to know him well at all.
Oh what? You mean those people who know Geoff well AND, somehow, presumably through their own intrinsic merit, managed not to be harassed by him (because poor Geoff has no agency here at all, of course).
Sorryish for the snark. This is all too painfully familiar.
I’m personally very **interested** to note which institution it is that Katie Mack currently hails from, and the G08 response to her comments:
“Go8 does not tolerate this abuse of power.”
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/sexual-harassment-common-in-academia-says-physicist-20151013-gk7x7c
Shades of Gabrielle McMullin and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, perhaps.
No no, by “those who know Geoff well” they meant people, of course. Male academics. Those are people. There might be a couple of women included as honorary people as long as they say the right things, but male academics are the real people here.