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Michael Balter, a journalist who has reported extensively on sexual harassment in the archaeology field, was all set to join a panel on #MeToo tomorrow (April 13) at the Society for American Archaeology annual meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Instead, he has been ejected from the conference after he confronted archaeologist David Yesner at the meeting and repeatedly contacted a society communications officer to ask for a response. Yesner, who is now retired, had recently been banned from coming to his own university campus because of accusations of sexual misconduct.
The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) tells Balter in an email that he violated its conduct policy regarding his “outreach” about Yesner, a former professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) who was found to have sexually assaulted and harassed multiple women. Balter explains that, while in the exhibition hall of the conference yesterday, he ...
