HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Lehigh University is getting sued by a professor who claims the school ignored years of another professor’s sexual harassment in an effort not to appear racist.
The lawsuit claims that the university did not take immediate action when it was made privy to Peterson’s alleged harassment due to Peterson’s race. It says that Lehigh was “highly sensitive” to the appearance of racial bias because of its “racially biased history,” including an investigation of potential racial bias at the school by the Office of Civil Rights.
Due to this sensitivity, the university “deliberately delayed” in taking action against Peterson following its awareness of sexual harassment allegations because “Peterson had every incentive to smear the inquiry as racially motivated” and the university wished to avoid being “accused of racial bias.”
Sad.