UCLA Failed to Protect Students from Sexual Harassment, Lawsuit Says

UCLA Failed to Protect Students from Sexual Harassment, Lawsuit Says


Already one of 106 colleges and universities under investigation by the federal Department of Education for possible violations of Title IX, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) now faces a Title IX lawsuit by two graduate students.

On June 11, Nefertiti Takla and Kristen Hillaire Glasgow filed the suit and demand for jury trial against the Board of Regents of the University of California for allowing a sexually hostile environment that they claim “was so severe” it deprived them “of access to educational opportunities and benefits.”

In the lawsuit, Takla and Glasgow allege they endured repeated instances of sexual harassment and assault by Gabriel Piterberg, a UCLA history professor, and that UCLA acted with “deliberate indifference” to their reports in violation of Title IX, the equal education law that bars sex discrimination.

Piterberg served as Takla’s dissertation advisor and sat on a committee that made decisions about which students should be allocated funding—funding Glasgow largely depended on to continue her studies.
The lawsuit alleges Piterberg:
Made “unwanted sexual advances” toward the plaintiffs
Sexually assaulted the plaintiffs by pressing himself against them and forcing his tongue in their mouths
Repeatedly told the plaintiffs of his alleged “sexual affairs with UCLA professors and graduate students”

. . . .

http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/06/24/ucla-failed-to-protect-students-from-sexual-harassment-lawsuit-says/