Science Community Reacts Strongly To 'Wrist-Slap' Harassment Decision
Geoffrey Marcy NASA / Media Telecon The University of California, Berkeley, has put Geoffrey Marcy, an astronomy professor and preeminent researcher of planets beyond our solar system, on probation after finding in a confidential investigation that he sexually harassed four female students between 2001 and 2010. Now astronomers across the country are calling for his dismissal from the university entirely, arguing that his offenses, which include unwanted massaging, groping, and kissing, warrant a much more severe punishment. On Monday, 23 astronomy faculty members at Berkeley posted a letter urging the university to fire Marcy, a celebrity astronomer who has appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman and has been mentioned as a Nobel Prize contender for his discoveries of alien worlds known as exoplanets. “Sexual harassment has no place in our Department,” Berkeley astronomers...