U Rochester Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Settled for $9.4 Million

Nine former students and faculty members who sued the institution in 2017 over its handling of sexual harassment claims will contribute a portion of the settlement to those whose careers suffered as a result.

Written byAmy Schleunes

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The University of Rochester will pay $9.4 million to nine former professors and students in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences who sued the institution in 2017 over its handling of sexual harassment claims against linguist Florian Jaeger, according to Science.

“We consider it a major victory for all of the faculty and students who were harassed,” says plaintiff and developmental neuroscientist Jessica Cantlon, now of Carnegie Mellon University, in remarks to Science. “It’s a significant settlement. I think it’s going to have a really powerful impact on how seriously universities take women who come forward with complaints of sexual harassment. This is something that universities will notice.”

Cantlon tells Nature that when people come forward with complaints of sexual harassment, “it’s important to take them seriously and to find resolution for them that doesn’t require people to seek justice through the court system.”

Cantlon ...

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Meet the Author

Amy Schleunes
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A former intern at The Scientist, Amy studied neurobiology at Cornell University and later earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Iowa. She is a Los Angeles–based writer, editor, and communications strategist who collaborates on nonfiction books for Harper Collins and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and also teaches writing at Johns Hopkins University CTY. Her favorite projects involve sharing the insights of science and medicine.
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