The Site Visit Report
Statement from CU Women Faculty
All of us in the Philosophy Department at CU-Boulder are naturally
upset by the fallout following publication of the Site Visit Report
authored by a team from the APA-CSW Site Visit Program. Inevitably, we
have different takes on the content of the Report. One reason for the
differences among us is that we each have access to different evidence,
not only because we have different personal histories in the department
but also because much of the evidence on which the Report is based is
secret by its nature or confidential by law. Despite differing
perceptions regarding both the Report’s details and the overall
impression it gives, all of us are united on a few things. First, we
are all distressed that the Report may damage the reputations of male
colleagues who are completely innocent of sexual misconduct. It could
also harm the prospects of our male graduate students currently on the
market. We faculty women strongly believe that none of our currently
untenured male colleagues or current male graduate students has engaged
in sexual misconduct (nor, indeed, have most of our tenured
colleagues). We believe that many have heard about the problems, if at
all, only through the rumor mill. The second thing that unites us all
is our determination to rebuild the department and its reputation.
Receiving the Report has been and continues to be very difficult but it
has galvanized us into working extremely hard to make our department
once again a place where we can be confident about inviting people from
all demographic groups to be colleagues, graduate, and undergraduate
students.
Sheralee Brindell, Senior Instructor in Philosophy and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies
Carol Cleland, Professor of Philosophy
Alison Jaggar, College Professor of Distinction, Philosophy and Women and Gender Studies
Mitzi Lee, Associate Professor of Philosophy
Diane Mayer, Senior Instructor Emerita in Philosophy Claudia Mills, Associate Professor of Philosophy
Posted: February 18, 2014