ABOVE: MSU, ADRIAN SANCHEZ-GONZALEZ
Montana State University cereal geneticist Hikmet Budak has resigned after an investigation found evidence that he had sexually harassed students and discriminated against them. The work environment was so intimidating that several students left his lab and one considered suicide, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports.
The university’s Office of Institutional Equity (OIE) conducted the investigation and found a “preponderance of the evidence” that Budak created “a hostile environment that was rampant with harassment,” Emily Stark, the director of the OIE, tells the Chronicle. According to the OIE’s report, which was anonymously sent to the Chronicle, Budak often touched female students, making them feel uncomfortable. The report also found that he often hired young female students over male students, joked about shooting his students, called students fat in Turkish, yelled at female but not male students, and fired a female staff member because of her family status.
...
