NAS Considers Expulsion of Two Scientists for Sexual Harassment

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Update (October 24, 2022): Archeologist Luis Jaime Castillo Butters has filed a lawsuit against the National Academy of Sciences and its president, Marcia McNutt, alleging that the two made defamatory statements about him. The move, which was reported last week by independent journalist Michael Balter, follows a previous defamation lawsuit against one of his accusers in Peru, Marcela Poirier. That lawsuit was successful, resulting in the issuing of $48,400 fine and a suspended jail sentence, although Poirier has appealed the verdict, Science reports. 

Update (October 18): The US National Academy of Sciences has expelled a third member, Peruvian archeologist Luis Jaime Castillo Butters, after an investigation by the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru concluded that he had sexually harassed several students, Science reports. Castillo Butters, who remains a professor at the university, tells Science that he denies the allegations.

Update (June 25): Francisco Ayala has now also had his membership rescinded by the US National Academy of Sciences. The expulsion, announced in an email yesterday, was effective immediately, Science reports.

Update (May 28): The US National Academy of Sciences expelled Geoffrey Marcy, effective May 24. The decision was announced in an email sent to members on May 26, ScienceInsider reports.

The US National Academy of Sciences is reviewing complaints about two members as part of a process that could ultimately lead to their expulsion, Science reports. 

Astronomer Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, and geneticist Francisco Ayala of UC Irvine had been accused of sexual harassment and left their jobs following investigations into their conduct. Complaints made to the NAS last fall are now being adjudicated, and could lead to the first expulsions under new academy rules designed to handle such complaints.

“We are watching social change happening in front of our eyes,” NAS member Nancy Hopkins, an emeritus biologist at MIT, tells Science. “It has been a long time coming.”

Membership of the NAS used to be lifelong, but the academy changed its bylaws in 2019 to allow people to be expelled for sexual harassment or other forms of misconduct, provided the decision was supported by a two-thirds majority vote by the academy’s Council.

See “National Academy of Sciences Votes To Change Its Bylaws”

The complaints to the NAS about Marcy’s and Ayala’s behavior were made last September by François-Xavier Coudert, a computer scientist at CNRS in France who does not know the two personally, according to Science. 

Marcy was forced to leave UC Berkeley in 2015 after BuzzFeed News published details of the university’s investigation into his conduct. Marcy did not respond to Science’s requests for comment on the NAS review, but has previously apologized for being a “source of distress,” although he contested some of the allegations, according to BuzzFeed. 

Ayala resigned in 2018 after UC Irvine concluded that he had sexually harassed colleagues and a student. According to the Los Angeles Times, he said in a statement at the time that he regretted that “what I have always thought of as the good manners of a European gentleman—to greet women colleagues warmly, with a kiss to both cheeks, to compliment them on their beauty—made colleagues I respect uncomfortable.” He tells Science this month that he “absolutely” denies the sexual harassment allegations.

See “Geneticist Francisco Ayala Quits After Sexual Harassment Accusations”

Coudert also filed complaints about two other NAS members accused of sexual harassment: Sergio Verdú, a researcher in electrical engineering who was terminated from Princeton University in 2018; and cancer researcher Inder Verma, who was placed on leave and subsequently resigned in 2018 from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Both have previously denied the allegations against them.

See “Prominent Salk Institute Scientist Inder Verma Resigns”

Reviews of these two cases may have been hindered by the lack of conclusions or documentation, Science reports. Salk kept its investigation about Verma private, for example, while Verdú has filed a lawsuit against Princeton—legal action that has yet to be settled.

NAS president Marcia McNutt tells Science that the new rules and proceedings may also influence who is elected to be a member of the academy in the first place. “The biggest change I have witnessed is how much the members are taking into account the conduct of colleagues before putting them forward for membership,” she says.

Correction (April 16): This story has been updated to note that it’s the Council, not all members, that vote on ejecting individuals from the Academy. The Scientist regrets the error.