ABOVE: WIKIMEDIA, BEYOND MY KEN
Multiple professors at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who were credibly accused of sexual harassment have been put on paid administrative leave, allowed to leave the institution quietly, or both, ProPublica Illinois and NPR Illinois jointly reported yesterday (August 27). Among them was Valarmathi Thiruvanamalai, a comparative biosciences faculty member who went on to a position at the University of Alabama at Birmingham after his resignation from UIUC.
According to ProPublica, a student reported Thiruvanamalai to the university for inappropriate behavior in 2014, which he denied. The student was moved to a different lab, and Thiruvanamalai was directed not to contact the complainant. Another student and a lab tech then came forward with allegations. Thiruvanamalai’s alleged behavior “included calls, texts, inquiries about bathroom breaks and menstrual cycles, an invitation to a student to stay in the same hotel room, and unannounced visits to their homes,” ...
