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Astronomy

Harassment in Space Science and Astronomy (Update)

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
January 12, 2016
Filed under
Harassment in Space Science and Astronomy (Update)

Caltech suspends professor for harassment, Science
“For what is believed to be the first time in its history, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena has suspended a faculty member for gender-based harassment. The researcher has been stripped of his university salary and barred from campus for 1 year, is undergoing personalized coaching to become a better mentor, and will need to prove that he has been rehabilitated before he can resume advising students without supervision. Caltech has not curtailed his research activities. The university has not disclosed the name of the faculty member, but Science has learned that it is Christian Ott, a professor of theoretical astrophysics who studies gravitational waves and other signals from some of the most violent events in the cosmos.”
Memo from Caltech leadership Regarding Faculty Harassment/Discrimination Issues, Caltech
Congresswoman reveals prominent astronomy professor’s history of sexual harassment, Mashable
“A U.S. congresswoman is calling out a leading astronomy educator who violated the sexual harassment policy at the University of Arizona, saying the case highlights a larger problem of holding known offenders accountable in higher education.”
Astronomy roiled again by sexual-harassment allegations, Nature
“The new revelations confirm that harassment is a widespread problem in science with only some of the instances now coming to light, says Joan Schmelz, an astronomer at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and longtime advocate for women in astronomy. “You can’t just sweep this stuff under the rug, declare it confidential and hope that no one ever knows about it,” she says.”
What astronomy can do about sexual harassment, Meg Urry/AAS, CNN
“Last week, at its annual winter conference, the American Astronomical Society held a well-attended plenary session to address harassment and next steps. To an outsider, the many articles about the incident might make astronomy seem like a bad place for women. But having worked in physics and astronomy for some 40 years, I see this bad news about astronomy as really good news.”
Stopping Sexual Harassment In The Space Science Community (Update), earlier post
Dealing With Harassment at American Astronomical Society, earlier post
Harassment Hypocrisy from the AAS Membership, earlier post

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2 responses to “Harassment in Space Science and Astronomy (Update)”

  1. TheBrett says:
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    Good for Caltech. Their response in this matter is a model of how to do this for other universities and astronomy departments.

  2. numbers_guy101 says:
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    From the article –

    “Large egos may also contribute to the problem, Urry believes. “The more practitioners in a field talk about themselves as the second coming, the fewer women there are in that field,” she says. “It may be a chicken and egg phenomenon: Do women avoid those fields, or does the culture work to exclude them?””

    I’m glad to see here and in other discussions of this topic more about the chicken and egg problem with women in science, tech and engineering. Having seen all the younger women in my family turn away from these sci/tech/engineering fields at an early age it’s seems clearer over time that the problem starts all the way back as children, in grammar school, with unfounded teacher biases toward what boys and girls are good at, with perceptions about what dad does, versus mom, and then these biases propagate ill-effects into these professions.

    Until a critical mass of women fills these professions, and this will likely involve pro-active hiring as well as welcoming and harassment free work environments, the welcome mat for who might enter is pretty much out only for boys. Once a critical mass is reached perhaps those grammar school teachers who say some field is for boys will have less reason to hold such a belief. Perceptions will change – aunt Jane and the neighbors wife and grandma were in these fields, meaning to a young girl that she can join that club.

    We have a long ways to go here.