Campaign Lauds Sexual Harasser

In connection with the new University Campaign, I received the University's latest plea, its cassette tape, "Harvard College, the Connection We Share," with more dismay than usual. My apprehension, however, soon yielded to curiosity; I opened the tape to examine its list of contents. Imagine my shock, in the portion of the tape devoted to "Teaching and Learning," at seeing the name of the professor who had achieved notoriety on campus and in the national press during my own undergraduate years for his sexual harassment of women in the government department.

In 1983, Professor Jorge Dominguez was charged with the sexual harassment of a graduate student and a junior faculty member. In response to the faculty complainant's charges, then-Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Henry Rosovsky found that Dominguez's conduct "constituted a serious abuse of authority" (Time, Nov. 14, 1983). I would argue that Professor Dominguez's peculiar perception of the responsibilities and privileges of his faculty status renders him singularly unqualified to address teaching and learning, and Harvard's inclusion of him in its fund-raising plea is profoundly disturbing. His egregious actions in 1983 undermined education at Harvard and jeopardized the careers of the women involved. I can imagine no greater expression of Harvard's continued contempt for the education of women than the promotion of Professor Dominguez as an exemplary educator, despite his receipt of an undergraduate teaching award in 1991.

I, for one, will not contribute to Harvard's campaign, nor to future class gifts, until I am convinced of the University's commitment to equal treatment and a safe learning environment for all students and faculty members. I urge all graduate of the University with similar concerns to send their own contributions not to Harvard, but, instead, to Radcliffe College, the one institution within Harvard University which is committed to safeguarding the treatment of women at Harvard. Perhaps with greater support Radcliffe can ensure that Harvard professors intent on abusing their authority will have to find their pray someplace else. Alison Games '85   Assistant Professor of History Grinnell College