Ex-Grad Student Alleges Misconduct

In response to The Crimson's Sept. 29, 2009 news article "Ex-Grad Student Alleges Misconduct," Letters to the Editor were submitted by John Y. Campbell, department chair of the Harvard economics department; David Gergen, a professor of public service at the Harvard Kennedy School; Claudia Goldin, a Harvard economics professor; and a group of 68 graduate students and recent alumni from the economics department's PhD programs.

A former graduate student’s mass e-mail to hundreds of College students alleging “administrative misconduct” at Harvard sparked heated debate over undergraduate e-mail lists Friday about discrimination on campus.

Former economics graduate student Wei Gu sent a nearly 2,500 word e-mail Friday morning that alleged that she had been the victim of “significant discrimination and misconducts” at the hands of professors and administrators at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the University.

Her e-mail in particular levied accusations of inappropriate conduct against Economics Professor Kenneth S. Rogoff, her adviser from 2005 to 2007.

“I rejected implicitly and politely his request to have a relationship more than student-faculty relationship in 2006,” Gu wrote in Friday’s e-mail. “There were also body languages and verbal harassment that I did not quite understand at that time.”

Rogoff declined to comment on the e-mail.

Gu said she was required to take an involuntary medical leave of absence on Aug. 9, 2007 and was required to withdraw from GSAS at the Aug. 31 Administrative Board meeting this year.

“I sent e-mails to students and professors because I had no other method to let people know what happened,” Gu said in a telephone interview from her Beijing home. “And I think students should work together to fight for their student rights.”

In response to an inquiry about Gu’s mass e-mail, a Harvard spokesman said that GSAS had already thoroughly considered Gu’s case and does not intend to reopen it.

“We emphasize that the GSAS and Harvard more broadly do not condone or tolerate harassment—physically, verbally, or electronically—of any member of our community,” Harvard spokesman Jeff Neal wrote in an e-mailed statement. “As is our policy, and consistent with privacy rules, we will not disclose the details of this former student’s case.”

Gu wrote that she believed professors “were aiming at the same goal to force me to leave US in summer 2007 and to withdraw me in 2009. I think it is because I decided to rely on my own research ability without compromising to the male dominated culture in the Economics Department.”

Following the reception of Gu’s e-mail, many house and club e-mail lists reacted with concerns about gender and racial discrimination on campus.

“The e-mail opens up a lot of room for misconceptions and misunderstandings, and judging from the confusion over the mailing lists, it already has,” said a recent Harvard alum who asked to remain anonymous to avoid compromising relationships with people in the economics department. “I really think that students should be cautious about jumping to conclusions.”

Gu’s e-mail also contained a link to her blog, where she posted what she identified as logs of her e-mail exchanges with various professors and administrators.

In one such exchange dated Nov. 3, 2006, Gu wrote to Rogoff, “I want to make sure that you know this. I am willing to be with you any time if it is not against my principles and integrity.”

In another e-mail sent Jan. 15, 2007, Rogoff wrote that “Given all that has happened recently, and that you now have other places to go for advice and advising, perhaps it would make sense if you do not write for an extended period.”

According to the e-mail logs, GSAS Dean for Students Garth O. McCavana wrote to Gu that further contact with Rogoff “could be construed as harassment and could end you up in trouble.”

Gu continued sending a series of e-mails to Rogoff from both her FAS account and an anonymous Gmail account, based on her logs.

According to the e-mails posted on Gu’s site, she was referred to University Health Services Chief of Mental Health Richard D. Kadison for “inappropriate and intrusive” behavior in June 2007 and was placed on involuntary medical leave in Aug. 2007 for a pattern of behavior that was “extremely disruptive to the academic environment.” Gu said she was required to leave the United States within two weeks.

In Aug. 2009, the Administrative Board of GSAS recommended against Gu returning to continue her studies, and Gu was required to withdraw, she said.

Students who accessed the e-mail logs expressed concerns about the accuracy of Gu’s portrayal.

“I felt that in many ways, how she portrayed herself [in the e-mail sent to students] was very different from how the reality might have been,” said Steve Teng ’10. “In some ways, I think she definitely crossed the line between personal and professional.”

A current Harvard graduate student who asked to remain anonymous because they did not want to compromise relationships with faculty members said that they could sympathize with Gu’s situation.

“I think the power balance for international graduate students is a little different,” the grad student said. “I don’t think the department acted at all inappropriately, but because she was an international student, the department held an enormous amount of power over her in the sense that they forced her to leave the country immediately.”

Friday’s e-mail was not the first time Gu had e-mailed allegations to Harvard students. According to the e-mail log on Gu’s site, she sent a series of e-mails to current and former students in the economics department in Aug. 2008. The e-mails contained allegations about both faculty and students in the department.

—Jessie J. Jiang contributed to the reporting of this article.

—Staff writer Manning Ding can be reached at ding3@fas.harvard.edu.