I filed a formal complaint of harassment more than a year ago, along with 29 other complainants (both men and women), about a serial harasser in our subsection. I know some jr people didn't want to file an on the record complaint for fear of retaliation. This is what happened. 2/
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This particular harasser has operated for decades with a range of abuses. My abuse was common but also on the milder end of his spectrum. He understands power and prestige well. He'd pick targets who were junior people, almost always untenured, from non-elite institutions. 3/
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The harassment wasn't always sexual in nature, but sometimes it was. His typical MO is to identify a target, likely from my section's listserv, and approach them expressing an interest in their research and a desire to meet them at a conference. For a junior person, it was 4/
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flattering to have anyone take an interest. He'd tell you he knew influential people in the field that he'd introduce you to. But then somewhere along the way, often without provocation, he'd turn on you. In my case I don't know what triggered him, but he suddenly said 5/
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that my work was worthless, that I was no good as a scholar, that I probably wouldn't make tenure. Tenure is hard enough without this shit. It was early in my career. I was scared. A friend put me in touch with another jr. person who got the same thing and he explained to me 6/
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that this is what this guy does; that there was nothing wrong with my research. I felt so stupid and powerless, I didn't say anything to anyone. Who wants to be known as "that woman who was harassed" before they've had time to publish their research to be known for instead? 7/
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My abuse was mild compared to others. In one instance, he really fixated on another Assistant Professor and contacted her chair to say she was incompetent and her research sucked. When the chair deflected, he went to her Dean. In other frequent instances, he went after junior 8/
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people from the audience at panels, excoriating them in the most demeaning, aggressive way, far outside the bounds of appropriate scholarly disagreement. In other cases he would, unprovoked, email someone to tell them their book sucked and hurl abuses at them. 9/
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Surely this range of behavior is in violation of the APSA code of conduct: https://connect.apsanet.org/apsa2018/code-of-conduct/ … But what's the point of the code if
@APSAtweets won't enforce it in a meaningful way? I filed my on the record complaint over a yr ago 10/Show this thread -
and have heard nothing. I was at Southern in Jan. 2019. Shared a cab ride to the hotel with an Assistant Prof I just met. He said he had an early breakfast meeting with the harasser. I asked him if he knew him. I told him who he was, gave advice on how to deflect. 11/
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When I returned home, I emailed Rogers Smith, a mentor and current Prez of APSA asking why this man was still out there, why I was still running interference, what happened to my complaint. He said the man had been "sanctioned" by APSA, had resigned, was banned for a year 12/
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from panels. I asked what's the point of the "sanction" if no one knew about it, including the 30 original complainants. Smith said the entire council had voted on it and it was the first time a person had been so sanctioned. He said it's in the minutes of the council meeting 13/
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although the person IS NOT NAMED. He said wider dissemination of the sanction was nixed by APSA lawyers. In insisted that at least the original complainants who had risked their careers be told the disposition. He told me to email Steve Smith, exec director and Kim Mealy, 14/
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director of diversity. I did. That email was sent July 8, 2019. Radio silence, no response. If a tree falls in a forest... if a person is sanctioned and no one knows...How will jr people know to avoid this guy? Who will file subsequent complaints if only this happens? 15/
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I've watch my section in recent days have a debate about our listserv without most people knowing how it had been abused and that someone had been sanctioned. I am a tenured professor with a named endowed chair. Smith is my mentor. Still I got almost nowhere. 16/
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I simply asked that the people who filed complaints, who risked their careers in the hopes others wouldn't have to suffer the abuse, be told. If APSA feels free to blow me off, how will they treat a grad student, adjunct, nontenured person's complaint? How will they treat 17/
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an instance where there is only one complainant/victim, not 30? I went through the proper channels. I still have no clarification about what the nature of all the sanctions are. Can he contact & retaliate against those of us who filed complaints? If it's prohibited how would 18/
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I even know? I'm not going to dump his name here. That's the whole point about the flaw of the sanctions. No one knows who it is. PS publishes names of schools who have been sanctioned for academic freedom violations etc. His name should go there. Something. Anything. 19/
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A half dozen in my section in addition to myself have been working to hold this man accountable. We have spent hours, countless emails, phone calls to try to push. I am tired. I have other work to do. This thread is not to solicit sympathy. 20/
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It's a call to action. Contact APSA leadership. Ask who has been sanctioned & what the sanctions are. Ask why their lawyers prioritize avoiding a lawsuit over the safety and well-being of its members. Ask lots of questions. I got nowhere; perhaps y'all can make some headway. 21/
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Here is the APSA leadership: https://www.apsanet.org/ABOUT/Staff-Directory … Rogers Smith is President (well, I probably burned that bridge.) Although I am tenured, he can still retaliate. He claims to have friends at editorial boards across the field. But I just couldn't take it anymore 22/
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He does the crime, the rest of us are doing the time--still pushing for accountability. Why am I paying membership dues to this place? Epic institutional failure. Craven. Shortsighted. Irresponsible. FIN/
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Clarification: I don't think Rogers Smith will retaliate against me; I think the nasty harasser will find a way.
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