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\nThe #MeToo campaign has focused attention on workplace bullying, sexual harassment and assault. Are such revelations a surprise to an astronomer, like myself, who studies distant galaxies? No.<\/p>\n
\nThe #MeToo campaign has focused attention on workplace bullying, sexual harassment and assault. Are such revelations a surprise to an astronomer, like myself, who studies distant galaxies? No.<\/p>\n
I, along with the science and academic communities, have been directly confronted by these issues in recent years. Bullying, sexual harassment and assault is\u00a0prevalent at universities and research institutions<\/a>, as it is in society as a whole.<\/p>\n Only this week, another case of alleged sexual harassment in academia was aired by the ABC\u2019s Background Briefing program on Radio National.<\/p>\n The ABC\u2019s Hagar Cohen\u00a0reported on allegations levelled at Terry Speed<\/a>, one of Australia\u2019s most prominent statisticians. Much of the alleged harassment took place when a woman the ABC referred to only as Barbara, a junior scientist from Berkeley, visited Speed at Melbourne\u2019s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI<\/a>).<\/p>\n Cohen\u2019s\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0makes for difficult listening. While Speed\u00a0disputes some of the allegations<\/a>, the report refers to\u00a0emails from Speed<\/a>\u00a0wishing for Barbara to \u201csit on (his) knee all day\u201d and discussing \u201csweat(ing) a lot in close proximity\u201d.<\/p>\n Barbara has undergone much anguish, and our learned institutions have failed her and many of her peers. Damningly, this is all too familiar.<\/p>\n