Backlash at Yale over New Endowed Chair for Harasser

Facing mounting criticism over news of a new endowed chair for Michael Simons, a professor of medicine found to have sexually harassed a postdoctoral researcher, Yale University (CT) said in a statement that “we agree that in cases where someone has been found, through a formal process, to have violated university standards of conduct, there should be a presumption against awarding new honorifics.” Recent “announcements about a specific circumstance may appear to be at odds with these statements,” however, Yale said, noting that Simons was awarded the Robert W. Berliner Professorship of Medicine in 2008.