Colleagues: Yale Ethics Prof Is Anything but Ethical

Thomas Pogge condemned in open letter
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 21, 2016 2:04 PM CDT
Colleagues: Yale Ethics Prof Is Anything but Ethical
Yale professor Thomas Pogge.   (Tobias Klenze/Wikimedia)

More than 200 professors across North America and Europe have condemned Yale ethics and philosophy professor Thomas Pogge in an open letter following a BuzzFeed investigation accusing him of sexual harassment. Pogge appears to have "engaged in a long-term pattern of discriminatory conduct," including "unwanted sexual advances, quid pro quo offers of letters of recommendation and other perks, employment retaliation in response to charges of sexual misconduct, and sexual assault," write the signees, including his own colleagues at Yale, per BuzzFeed. The initial BuzzFeed report—which described the allegations against the 62-year-old professor as an "open secret in the international philosophy community"—highlighted the case of Fernanda Lopez Aguilar, one of three women to file a federal civil rights complaint against Yale over its handling of complaints, reports Jezebel.

Her complaint alleges Pogge sexually harassed her while at a conference in Chile, then fired her from a postgraduate fellowship when she spurned his advances. It also claims Yale paid $2,000 to keep her quiet and refused to investigate other claims against Pogge. The professor has produced emails he says show Lopez Aguilar's complaint is a veiled attempt to get money, per BuzzFeed. However, the open letter says Pogge "selectively (and without permission) appended" emails that "in no way support the intimation of extortion." "Nothing is more important to our philosophical community than the trust he has betrayed," it continues. "We strongly condemn his harmful actions toward women, most notably women of color, and the entire academic community." (More sexual assault stories.)

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