Sexual harassment and its aftershocks

Abstract

After enduring years of sexual harassment, two members of biochemist Gianluigi Veglia’s lab filed complaints with the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Investigators corroborated their accounts and recommended that Veglia be fired. University administrators decided to impose lesser sanctions instead. The university kept the decision quiet until a Minneapolis newspaper revealed details. Universities often don’t disclose information about harassment cases, but sexual harassment experts say this practice is harmful. The lack of transparency about the sanctions against Veglia, who continues to work at the university, catalyzed reforms intended to protect against sexual harassment and improve decision-making. But distrust continues among faculty and graduate students. The professor seemed a bit flirtatious, but she didn’t think too much of it at the time. It was August 2012, and Chelsea was interviewing for a job as a lab manager in the research group of biochemist Gianluigi Veglia at the University of Minnesota Twin