The archaeology wing of the Anthropology Department is reeling from allegations that its chair is sexually harassing his graduate students.
Seven female graduate students have alleged that they were told sexually explicit jokes by Clay Professor of Scientific Archaeology Nikolaas J. van der Merwe. The graduate students did not allege that van der Merwe had initiated physical contact with any of them.
Two of the female graduate students say they felt van der Merwe's conduct, while bothersome, did not fit their personal definition of harassment.
University policy defines sexual harassment as "unwanted sexual behavior," including sexually explicit jokes.
Van der Merwe, who chairs the archaeology wing, is the adviser of many of the graduate students who spoke with The Crimson.
"He has told me that he dresses up in women's underwear," one graduate student charges. "He has described a man looking up a woman's skirt."
Van der Merwe has denied engaging in any form of harassment. "These allegations are ridiculous," he says.
In its publication, "Sexual Harassment and Unprofessional Conduct: Guidelines in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences," the University defines sexual harassment to include sexually explicit jokes. "The determination of what constitutes sexualharassment will vary with the particularcircumstances," the publication says, "but it maybe described generally as unwanted sexualbehavior, such as physical contact or verbalcomments, jokes, questions or suggestions." While the University has a procedure forreporting sexual harassment complaints, most ofthe graduate students say they have not fieldcharges because they believe they would be futile. The allegations have split the archaeology winginto two camps, with van der Merwe's supporterscharging his accusers with trumping up theallegations to damage the professor and further a"politically correct" agenda. A male graduate student and a male facultymember--both of whom have worked closely with vander Merwe--say they have heard him relate"incredibly" sexually explicit jokes. "He's insensitive to those of other race andgender," says a male graduate student. "Thatcarries over to all his work." One of van der Merwe's Harvard colleagues, aHarvard researcher, alleges that several studentshave left van der Merwe's lab "because they justcouldn't tolerate it." The researcher says that van der Merwe's jokes"clearly contravene Harvard's policy on sexualharassment. This man's behavior is damaging thework of some of his female students." "It's a daunting place for a woman to be, inthat department and so close to him," theresearcher says. Van der Merwe's advisees spoke only on thecondition of anonymity because they say they fearrelation from professor in the wing, whoseapproval is necessary to obtain a Ph.D. Thestudents say that attempts to go outside the wingto solve the problem have failed. "Female students who have been harassed havenowhere to turn," says one of van der Merwe'sfemale advisees, "because [van der Merwe] is thechairman of the wing. You're incredibly vulnerableas a graduate student--he signs off on your Ph.D.,and if he decides not to do that, you will nevergraduate." Three students say that van der Merwe, who iswhite, told them an offensive joke about theFugawis, "a tribe in Africa that jumps up and downand says 'Fuck, fuck, fuck.'" Van der Merwe says that he was talking about acomputer game he had seen in a shop and thestudents had misinterpreted him. "If there are people who dislike you, they aregoing to be able to twist what you say," he says. In recent days, at least two professors in thearchaeology wing have begun a search to identifygraduate students who have spoken with TheCrimson, according to Phillips Professor ofArchaeology and Ethnology C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky.Van der Merwe has also attempted to identify thosewho have spoken out, two graduate students say. "People here have done a lot of work figuringout who has spoken to you," Lamberg-Karlovskysays. "We know who is talking to you." In an interview Wednesday, Lamberg-Karlovskycalled the allegations "serious." Then, hesuggested that the allegations were "part andparcel of the game we are playing." He would notsay to which game he was referring. Regardless of their opinion on the allegations,nearly all students interviewed by The Crimson saymorale is very low in the wing. Some studentstrace the problems to van der Merwe and hisconduct towards students. But one graduate student and one professorcharge that female graduate students in attemptingto "engender" the department, have themselves hurtthe wing's morale. In an interview in December, ven der Merwe saidthat he had never harassed any of his students. He also said that it is not appropriate to airsuch charges in The Crimson, and he told hisfreshman seminar that he might sue the paper,according to a student in the seminar. In an interview, van der Merwe said onestudent, Meredith Chesson, had filed a sexualharassment complaint against him two years ago,but only "because she didn't want to take myclass." Chesson has declined to comment. "As chair of the archaeology wing, I am beingpromoted as the fall-guy for complaints againstthe wing," van der Merwe said in the Decemberinterview. "Someone is trying to smear me," he said, "Iwould suggest that whoever has these complaints gothrough [the established] procedures." Contacted this week for comment on allegationsthat have surfaced since the December interview,van der Merwe said: "This has gotten out of hand,What is happening here is a very clear case ofharassment. I am speaking to Harvard's legalcounsel." Then, he hung up. Whatever the truth of the allegations, thearcheology wing has been badly divided by thecharges. students say. "There are lots of rumors about [van derMerwe]," Michael Wilcox, a graduate student, says,"but I don't know if they are true." Suzanne Young, a van der Merwe advisee,says van der Merwe has never sexually harassedanyone and that certain students "many be out todamage his reputation." Young says that many professors, including vander Merwe, tell sexually explicit jokes. She saysthat when she is told such jokes, she simply tellspeople to stop. David Kallick, a former student of van derMerwe's and now an assistant professor at theUniversity of Arizona, says he knows of noallegations against van der Merwe. One professor closely associated with theDepartment of Anthropology says that severalfemale students are extremely difficult to teachand are intimidating to professors and othergraduate students. "But [van der Merwe] hasn'thelped the problem," he says. Two students and a professor charge that thewomen are intent upon "engendering archaeology,"or bringing issues of gender to traditionallymale-dominated field. "These women make life impossible around here,"one graduate student says. "They definitely dohave an agenda." They charge that it is "convenient" for thewomen's agenda to be sexually harassed by the maleanthropology professors. Judi H. Pettit, who works part-time for van derMerwe, says it was "a riot' that people accusedvan der Merwe of sexual harassment. "He has over a one hundred publications to hisname... he has never been accused of sexualharassment," Pettit says. Robert Tykot, a van der Merwe advisee who hasacted as a teaching fellow in van der Merwe'sclasses, says the professor has never sexuallyharassed anyone. "Because of political correctness, we aretotally vulnerable to [being accused of sexualharassment]," van der Merwe says. But the female graduate students say politicalcorrectness has nothing to do with their charges. "His excuse is Western women... are uptight andprudish," says a female graduate student. And grad students say the jokes are frequent. "I must have heard ten to 15 jokes in the timeI've been here," the same female graduate studentadds, "What do you do? You laugh nervously." "I know of few people who don't find himoffensive," the graduate student says, "I thinkthe University and the department should be prettyembarrassed." Van der Merwe has a picture of a bare-breastedwoman wearing beads on his wall, eight graduatestudents and a faculty member say. Some studentssay they find the picture offensive. But van der Merwe says that he acquired thepicture at a conference and that it is ofanthropological interest. Susanna K. Mlynarczyk '97, who took van derMerwe's freshman seminar last fall, says van derMerwe at one point asked her: "Why don't you lookat the pictures of beads in my office." "I thought the [picture of the woman] was alittle strange, but it's supposed to be aboutbeads, but beads aren't very ethnic," Mlynarczyksays, "It was a little weird." Mlynarczyk, however, says she liked van derMerwe as a professor. Margot Gill, dean of student affairs of thegraduate school of arts and sciences, says shecannot comment on any specific charges orallegations. She says that each year only ahandful of graduate students charge professorswith sexual harassment. Knowles did not return a phone call to his homethis weekend. Two graduate students who say they weretold sexually explicit jokes charge that otherprofessors in the Anthropology Department wereunsympathetic to their complaints. "I went to another professor in the department,who told me it is 'just [van der Merwe's] style,"'one female grad student says. "He wasn't at allinterested and told me not to make waves." "If students rock the boat, they'll beblackballed in this department," says anotherfemale graduate student, who says her complaintmet a similar reception, "When they go to a deanor faculty member, [they are being told] 'that'sjust [van der Merwe].'" But the researcher charges that it is not vander Merwe's style, but what he says and does, thatgraduate students find offensive. "Everyone's got a certain style, but what hedoes goes beyond style, and it's incredible no onehas dealt with him," the researcher says. Professor of Anthropology Peter Ellison, who ischair of the Anthropology Deportment, hasrepeatedly refused to comment on any materpertaining to his department. Ellison has, however, recognized problems withmorale, The department chair held a meeting lastMonday with about 15 archaeology graduate studentsto discuss morale in the wing, graduate studentssay. "The big complaint [at the meeting] was thatthe wing's senior faculty don't care aboutteaching... basically they don't care about us,"says one graduate student who attended. "[Ellison] said, 'I have a feeling the women inthis department are a lot unhappier than themen,"' the graduate student adds. "One woman saidshe filed a sexual harassment charge last year.Another said that Dean Gill had told her she had alist of charges [in the anthropology department]as long as her aim." Ellison indicated during the meeting that hewas unaware of the complaints, according to thegraduate student. "Ellison said he had never heard of thecomplaints," the graduate student says. "He saidthat they had stopped at Gill's office." Ellison reportedly told the graduate studentsthat he could help them with some problems, butnot all. "He said he would be able to work on some ofour problems, like putting a grad student on thewing committee, but he said he couldn't addressothers," she says. While the meeting may have allowed the graduatestudents to air some of their feelings, some saythat it was difficult for them to speak freely. "It was hard for graduate students to reallyspeak due to the fact two students close to vander Merwe were there," the researcher says. The researcher says he doubts whether Ellisonwould effect any real changes. "Peter Ellison doesn't want to be chair of thedepartment when all hell breaks loose," he says. Grad students say that the allegations againstven der Merwe have come to dominate the wing'sday-to-day life. "It has gotten to a point where it is a bigissue," one female graduate student says, "becauseno one will talk to him, Not even aprofessor--it's like they're scared of him, too." "Everyone in the department knows aboutthis--this is all they talk about when they gettogether," a male student says, "But no one willdo anything about it." Some of the graduate students interviewed havetried to put their allegations in the context of afield of study--archaeology--that has beentraditionally dominated by men. The graduate students say that although otheruniversities have taken steps towards includingwomen at every level of research, Harvard has not. Male and female graduate students have saidthat the lack of a female professor results infemale students not having a role model with whomthey can identify. A female junior professor, Rosemary Joyce, wasconsidered for tenure last year, but was not giventhew position, It would have been unusual to granttenure to junior faculty members. "I really don't want to talk about it," Joycesays. "I just want to leave Harvard in bliss." Van der Merwe says there have simply been fewopportunities to appoint women to tenuredprofessorships. The constant rumors, allegations andrecriminations surrounding van der Merwe have leftthe students' morale low, according to most of themore than 50 students and professors familiar withthe wing who were contacted by The Crimson. Somesay their research suffers as a result. "With all these accusations and attitudes, wecan no longer discuss journals without peopleshooting other people down", one graduate studentsays, "Most of us have surrendered and we stay inour own little rooms." And one male student charges: "It's definitelyharder for a woman to do good research in thatdepartment." Former archaeology wing chair Steven William's,who was at Harvard from 1958 to 1993, acknowledgesthat "the wing has problems." And graduate students charge that communicationbetween van der Merwe and his graduate studentshas totally broken down. Some students suggest that is because van derMerwe spends several months each year away fromHarvard doing research in Africa. Van der Merwe has a laboratory at theUniversity of Capetown in South Africa, where hesays he maintains an adjunct appointment andspends January and the summer, "I never talk tohim, I never see him," charges one of van derMerwe's advisees. "It's almost like he doesn'texist." And another van der Merwe advisee, Kwang-TzouChen, alleges that one of van der Merwe's classes,Archaeometry Lab Practicum, is simply "taughtunder his name." Van der Merwe says that it is common forarchaeology professors to have labs in foreigncountries, The nature of the profession, he says,requires archaeology professors to spendsignificant amount of time in the field. "It's been very difficult for five years to setup a lab for the teaching and research I do," saidvan der Merwe, "It's highly technical work." Van der Merwe also says that he spendssignificant amounts of time teaching. In fact, students who took van der Merwe'sfirst-year seminar this fall on "ScientificAnalysis of Materials" say they like theirprofessor and their class. "I wish he spent as much time with us as hedoes the freshmen in his seminar," one of van derMerwe's graduate students says, "He does a greatjob with the freshmen, I don't know why he doesn't[do a good job] with us."
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