This man was essentially forced out by his colleagues, not the school.

Colleen Flaherty of Inside Higher Ed reports.

Putting Harassers on Notice

One of the biggest names in astronomy resigned his professorship at the University of California at Berkeley on Wednesday over the fallout from a damning investigation into his conduct with female students. The news demonstrates that not even star scholars enjoy impunity when it comes to sexual harassment, but in the end it was Geoff Marcy’s fellow scientists — not the Berkeley administration — who forced him out.

A vigorous peer pressure campaign launched last Friday, upon news of the investigation and Berkeley’s lukewarm response, seemingly backed Marcy into a corner and, in so doing, sent a strong message to academic science: even if your institution doesn’t reject you for harassing students, your colleagues will.

“This should put sexual harassers on notice,” said Joan Schmelz, a professor of astronomy at the University of Memphis and former chair of the American Astronomical Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy. “No one is too big to fail.”

Schmelz, who through the Women in Astronomy blog and other methods has long sought to pull back the curtain on sexism and sexual harassment in astronomy, helped some of the women involved in the harassment investigation log their complaints with Berkeley. The investigation, which involved four students — all of whom have since graduated — was completed three months ago. It determined that Marcy had shown a pattern of sexual harassment, including unwanted behavior such as kissing, groping and massaging women. One incident allegedly happened in front of a number of other astronomers at a disciplinary meeting. In another incident, Marcy allegedly put his hand up the skirt of a graduate student and groped her.

Marcy in the investigation reportedly said he didn’t grope the graduate student, but admitted some other alleged behaviors that he said might have been unintentional. Berkeley put Marcy on probation over the summer, but didn’t seek to fire him. Instead, the university drafted an agreement with Marcy in which he said he would not repeat the behavior, and in which he waived his right to due process should Berkeley pursue suspension or dismissal in the event of another incident.