A Harasser is a Harasser Regardless of Gender in Business and at Work

If as a third-party workplace harassment complaint investigator I was able to determine that there was more than a 50% likelihood that the following harassment by a professor to their graduate student occurred over a period of 3 years:

(The professor):

• Kissed and touched their graduate student repeatedly;
• Slept in their bed with their graduate student;
• Required the student to lie in their bed;
• Held the student’s hand, texted, emailed and called the student constantly, including but not limited to:
  • “I was crying when I did not hear back from you. It was a hard night,” read one. Or: “I am on a need to hear from you basis, please don’t refrain much longer!”
• Refused to work with the student if they did not reciprocate;

Among other related behaviors.

Based on the above facts, it would then from a data standpoint be completely logical to conclude that there was a more than 50% likelihood that the harassment occurred: the recommendation would be to terminate the professor’s employment (in a non-academic workplace), particularly for the violation of physical boundaries, e.g., touching. In this instance, the professor was suspended for 1 academic year and forbidden to meet with students without supervision. The professor happened to be a woman, and the complainant was her male graduate student. Before the outcome of the university’s investigation was made public, the professor’s colleagues wrote a letter in her defense, citing her professional reputation. Part of the professor’s own defense is that she’s a lesbian and her graduate student is gay.

In all likelihood, the professor was not terminated because she has academic tenure.

Compounded by her supervisory role / position of power, the professor abused her authority and power to effectively violate the boundaries of her student on a number of levels: yet another example of how sexual harassment is not about sex (or the sole purview of men), but abuse of power of a sexual nature in the workplace regardless of gender, sexual orientation / identity or circumstance.

How do you hold harassers (particularly supervisors who harass) accountable for their harassment (and prevent and/or stop the harassment) regardless of their gender in business and at work?