Fil-Am student sues prof over alleged sexual harassment

A Filipino-American graduate student from UC Berkeley has sued a faculty member over alleged sexual harassment on her and a fellow graduate student, reports said.
A report on BBC said Kathleen Gutierrez, together with Erin Bennet,  filed a complaint against Blake Wentworth for allegedly touching and making inappropriate sexual comments on them in 2014 and 2015.
Gutierrez and Bennett took their case to the Californa Department of Fair Employment and Housing after their campus allegedly failed to take action against Wentworth, an assistant professor of South and Southeast Asian studies.
In Gutierrez's complaint against UC Berkley and Wentworth, she said she "has been subjected to an oppressive, hostile, intimidating, and offensive work environment" since the beginning of her employment in the fall semester of 2014 as a graduate student instructor (GSI).
According to Gutierrez, Wentworth used to frequent the GSI office despite the space being intended for GSIs and undergraduate students, and often made "inappropriate statements of a sexual nature" to its occupants.
Gutierrez said on February 17, 2015, Wentworth asked her to walk his dog with him. While walking, he allegedly talked about his recent divorce and trips to a strip club where he supposedly did drugs off a dancer's body.
Gutierrez said Wentworth then held her hand and said, "I could lose my job over this... I would tell you, but I'm just so attracted to you." She said he then invited her to dinner.
In another incident, according to Gutierrez, Wentworth made lewd advances at her and implied that intimate student-teacher relationships were acceptable in his former workplaces.
She was then told that he "could be a strong ally in the department and that he could assist her with fellowships."
Upon receiving her complaint, uC Berkeley's Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination (OPHD) conducted an investigation and concluded on October 2, 2015 that Wentworth indeed violated campus rules on sexual harassment.
However, the OPHD did not suspend or sanction the professor and told Gutierrez six months later that her case was still pending.
In a report on The Guardian, Gutierrrez said she felt unsafe in the campus working near Wentworth and had to suspend her studies because of this.
The BBC report said Wentworth was finally suspended and barred from entering the GSI on Monday.
If proven guilty, Wentworth will join 19 other UC Berkley professors and staff found guilty of violating university policies against sexual misconduct by the OPHD since 2011, according to the Daily Californian. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News
- See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/562700/news/pinoyabroad/fil-am-student-sues-prof-over-alleged-sexual-harassment#sthash.hkVt3Jbi.dpuf

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

Biden said set to make push for demilitarized Palestinian state as part of new doctrine ---By LAZAR BERMAN

New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, who’s close to the US administration, says emerging doctrine would include Saudi-Israeli normalization, 2-state solution, and campaign against Iran US President Joe Biden’s administration is homing in on a new doctrine involving an unprecedented push to immediately advance the creation of a demilitarized but viable Palestinian state, The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman reported on Thursday. The plan, Friedman wrote, “would involve some form of US recognition of a demilitarized Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would come into being only once Palestinians had developed a set of defined, credible institutions and security capabilities to ensure that this state was viable and that it could never threaten Israel.” White House officials “have been consulting experts inside and outside the US government about different forms this recognition of Palestinian statehood might take,” revealed Friedman. What he termed the new “Biden Doctrin
Read more

In Cairo, senior Hamas officials discuss hostage deal with Egyptian intelligence chief ---By TOI STAFF, AGENCIES and LAZAR BERMAN

Delegation said led by terror group’s Qatar-based political leader Ismail Haniyeh; Wall Street Journal reports Hamas demanding 150 security prisoners for each female soldier A delegation of senior Hamas officials arrived in Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian officials on a possible deal that would see the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza. The delegation was led by Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar, and included senior members Mousa Abu Marzook and Khalil al-Hayya, the Qatar-based Al-Araby news outlet reported, citing an unnamed Egyptian source. The Hamas officials met with the head of Egyptian intelligence, Major General Abbas Kamel, to discuss the details of a hostage deal proposal that was presented to the Gaza terror group earlier this week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators. The outline of the deal was drawn up during a meeting in Paris last week in the presence of Israeli and US officials, as well as Qatari and Egyptian negotiators, a
Read more