After a month-long investigation into sexual misconduct claims at the university, former U. S. Attorney Mary Jo White delivered her findings Thursday.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — University of Rochester President Joel Seligman announced his resignation Thursday, just hours after the release of a report on sexual misconduct on campus.
The news came late Thursday afternoon, just as his silence on the Mary Jo White report was becoming conspicuous. That report, which examined the university’s response to sexual misconduct allegations in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences department, largely approved the role Seligman and his cabinet played in the affair.
His decision to resign, though, was made before the White report came out.
In an email to the campus, he wrote: « It is clear to me that the best interests of the University are best served with new leadership, and a fresh perspective to focus on healing our campus and moving us forward in a spirit of cooperation and unity. »
Previously: Professor accused of sexual harassment ‘on leave,’ but still active on campus
Previously: Time Person of the Year honoree leaves university over sexual harassment inaction
Despite having been largely cleared in the White report, Seligman’s standing on campus took a beating in the last several months. He was sharply criticized at a closed-door meeting with the Faculty Senate, then named prominently in a lawsuit by the complainants against Florian Jaeger.
Though White clears Jaeger of the most serious accusations, he hardly escapes unscathed.
The report notes — and does not dispute — Jaeger’s reputation as being « insensitive, cruel and at times, humiliating and bullying. » It documents at least four sexual relationships within his department and says he made people uncomfortable with sexual innuendo.
In the broadest sense, White said the case made by Jessica Cantlon, Celeste Kidd and others — a story that roiled the campus, made Jaeger a pariah in his field and earned Cantlon and Kidd national recognition as « silence-breakers » in Time magazine — is wrong.
« We found that some of the complaints’ allegations were true, and Jaeger’s
behavior and statements, at times, were viewed by many (both male and female) as insensitive, unprofessional, cruel and occasionally containing sexual innuendo, and this perception, combined with Jaeger’s reputation as a womanizer, genuinely caused some female students to avoid him socially and academically, » she wrote. « At the same time, the complaints’ narrative — framed through the language of sexual predation and retaliatory animus towards women — is largely without factual basis. »
Speaking Thursday afternoon, Kidd said the report strongly confirmed Jaeger’s behavior to which they objected, and that underpins the EEOC lawsuit.
« The report describes Florian Jaeger as the predator I know him to be, » she said. « Despite all this, Mary Jo White took the age-old approach of trying to shame me into silence and obscurity…. It’s a classic and transparent intimidation tactic, and I want to say tonight that it will not work. »
As recently as this week, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee wrote: « (Seligman) has not responded to the university community’s crisis in confidence with a strong, renewed commitment to shared governance or with increased transparency in decision making. »
Richard Aslin, one of the Jaeger complainants and a prominent UR researcher for over 30 years who left the university in protest, said Thursday: « I would have to say that President Seligman’s resignation is some vindication that what we were doing (raising the complaints) is right. »
Hundreds of professors from across the country have said they are recommending against attending or working at the University of Rochester, and several researchers have left the Brain and Cognitive Sciences department, including Cantlon and her husband Brad Mahon.
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren called his resignation « a positive step forward toward establishing a culture at this important local institution that fosters openness in an environment of respect. »
In his resignation letter, Seligman wrote: « In everything that I have done, I have been animated by a single overriding criterion: What is the best interest of our University? I do so again today.
« From that perspective, it is clear to me: The felt needs of our university and our nation have changed. The university today needs a new president. I say this with no bitterness, no regret, but seeing facts for what they are. The university today most needs a period of healing. I fully support this process. »
In a statement, Board of Trustees President Danny Wegman wrote: « President Seligman has been a brilliant, transformative leader of University of Rochester who will long be remembered for substantially expanding our academic programs and our campus, broadening our student and faculty diversity, strengthening our finances, increasing our enrollment and securing Rochester’s place among America’s finest academic institutions. We thank him for his distinguished service to our university, our community and our state and we wish him well. »
Seligman, 68, became UR’s 10th president in 2005, replacing Thomas Jackson. He oversaw a massive expansion of the school’s enrollment and endowment.
During his tenure, enrollment increased 40% to 11,648 students. Total net assets grew from $2.1 billion in 2009 to $3.5 billion in 2017, helped in large part by a $1.4 billion fundraiser completed in 2016.
In that time, the University of Rochester Medical Center added its Wilmot Cancer Center and Golisano Children’s Hospital and the Eastman Theatre was renovated and expanded.
« It has been the greatest honor of my life to have served the University of Rochester for the last twelve and a half years, » he wrote to faculty.
Beyond his role in academia, Seligman was instrumental in the university’s emergence as the most prominent employer in the Rochester area. The school is at the center of nearly every civic venture in Monroe County, in keeping with Seligman’s vision of an outward-facing institution.
« The university cannot be apart from the community, but is a vital part of it, » he told the Democrat and Chronicle in 2010.
Erica Fee, the founder and producer of the KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival, said Seligman was instrumental in bringing the arts festival to the region. He began promoting the idea of a community-wide arts festival in 2008, and that eventually morphed into the popular Fringe Festival.
