To the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

The letter below was initially conceived by students outside of our organization; we assisted in sharing the letter. We are publishing it here because we believe it makes important points about the way campus sexual violence is a threat not only to survivor and community wellbeing, but to the academic mission of higher education.

TO:

Dr. David Oxtoby

President

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Earl Lewis

Chair, Committee on Membership

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

RE: John Comaroff’s Assaults on Academic Freedom

Dear Dr. Oxtoby and Dr. Lewis, 

Membership in the Academy of Arts and Sciences is a rare honor. Professor John Comaroff’s repeated assaults on academic freedom, intellectual vitality, and a safe learning environment mean that he has failed to live up to the values and expectations of this position. The AAAS bylaws provide for a member’s removal following an “institutional triggering event.” As the undersigned members of the Harvard community, we write to inform you that this standard has been met in the case of Professor Comaroff. We therefore call on the Academy to review his continued membership, and take action in a swift and transparent manner. 

Academic freedom and intellectual vitality are the bedrocks of any successful effort to “advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.” Preserving these values necessitates a learning environment free from retaliation and harassment. John Comaroff has serially undermined these shared principles. Last year, two investigations by the university found Professor Comaroff guilty of “engag[ing] in verbal conduct that violated the FAS Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment Policy and the FAS Professional Conduct Policy.” He was placed on unpaid leave by the university, and subsequently barred from advising and teaching duties. This established university sanction more than meets the definition of an “institutional triggering event” under Academy policy. Combined with several deeply troubling pending allegations, it speaks to a decades-long record of sexual harassment, academic retribution, silencing of speech, and intimidating of whistleblowers that conflicts with the Academy’s institutional mission and standards for membership.

John Comaroff’s pattern of misconduct is also documented in a civil suit against Harvard University. The claims include forcible kissing, inappropriate touching, and verbal sexual harassment of students — with allegations dating as far back as the 1970s, when he was reportedly sighted regularly around undergraduate student dormitories. It should be clear that harassing or assaulting students represents a significant disruption to their education and freedom of inquiry. Survivors of Comaroff’s misconduct arrived at the Anthropology Department as accomplished and promising PhD students, but were faced with a choice that runs counter to the basic tenets of academic freedom: either disrupt their intellectual pursuits or risk experiencing further violations of their individual rights. 

The lawsuit also alleges that John Comaroff and his legal team sought to censor and silence the survivors of his misconduct and their supporters. In the process, he launched concerted efforts to undermine due process and stifle free speech. As Judge Judith Dein noted in a preliminary ruling, this credibly included threatening to withhold favorable recommendations and warning accusers that they would have “trouble finding jobs” and would “‘find it impossible’ to obtain a permanent teaching position” if they reported him, as well as attempts to destroy students’ relationships with other advisors and undermine the standing of accusers’ supporters in the department.  These threats were significant, as Judge Dein also wrote, given Professor Comaroff’s “power to impact the plaintiffs’ careers.” A prominent and accomplished professor like John Comaroff has the inherent ability to influence the trajectories of students and junior scholars. In the wake of Harvard’s sanctions, John Comaroff acted to leverage that power against those who sought to speak up. 

It is clear that John Comaroff’s presence at Harvard poses a profound risk to the intellectual vitality of our community. As shown in Harvard’s determination of Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment Policy violations, as well as in pending allegations of sexually harassing students in the Anthropology Department, suppressing the speech of those who challenged him, and engaging in retaliation against those who sought justice, Comaroff has set himself in opposition to the values of the scholarly community.

We therefore file this formal request for a review of Professor Comaroff’s continued membership in the Academy. His longstanding record of undermining academic freedom conflicts with the standards of Harvard, and of the AAAS. (Nearly all of his Harvard Anthropology colleagues have called on him to resign, and it is our understanding that his affiliation with the American Bar Foundation was recently ended for similar reasons.) Per AAAS procedures, wherein Harvard’s finding of culpability should trigger an automatic investigation by the Academy, we call for the Board and Membership Committee to take appropriate action quickly and transparently.

Sincerely,

Organizations

Our Harvard Can Do Better

Harvard Student Labor Action Movement

Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard

Individuals

Austin Siebold, College ‘23

Rachel Beard College ‘25

Connor Chung, College ‘23

Dhruv Goel, College ‘24

Anna Clark, College ‘23

William Sutton, College ‘23

Rushil Mallarapu, College ‘25

Alice Wu, College ‘25

Marcus Knoke, College ‘24

Corinne Shanahan, HLS ‘25

Allanah Rolph, College ‘23

Benjy Wall-Feng, College ’25

Christina B. Williams, HLS ‘25

Amber Levis, College ‘25

Jessica Grubesic, HLS ‘24

Charlie Benjamin, College ‘26

Olivia Pasquerella, College ‘26

Phoebe Barr, College ‘24

Koby Ljunggren, Biophysics PhD Candidate

Rachael Dziaba, College ‘26

Uday Schultz, College ‘23

Eva Frazier, College ‘26

Stella Gilbert, College '26

Masha Geguchadze, College ‘26

Jennifer Gao, College ‘24

Emma Lu, College ‘26

Lily Davis, College ‘23

Priya Thelapurath, College ‘24

Brittany Ellis, College ‘19

Esteban M. Guijarro, College ‘24

Julia Pastreich, College ‘25

Kris King, College ‘24

Ria Modak, College ‘23

E Fisher, College ‘25

Kate Griem, College ‘25

Brit Shrader, College ‘24

Claire Liu, College ‘26

Gabby David, College, ‘24

Isaac Heller, College ‘23

Brooke Livingston, College ‘23

Ari Cheriyan, College ‘25

Jazmin Pearson, College ‘25

Hannah Lamport, College ‘23

Priya Kukreja, College ‘21

Clyve Lawrence, College ‘25

Tamar Sella, College ‘25

Thea Tjolle, College ‘25

Hallie Pugh-Sellers, College ‘24

Elio Kennedy-Yoon, College ‘25

Daniel Sun-Friedman, College ‘25

Semane Reddy - Mbewu, College ‘25

Violet Barron, College ‘26

PK/Lauren Byunn-Rieder, College '25

Anne-Charlotte Gillard, College ‘25

Elle Rhee, College '25

Anika Liv Christensen, College '26

Guillaume Bouchard, College ‘24

Mariam Mufleh, College ‘25

Amanda Dynak, College ‘24

William Pryor, College ‘24

Rachel Zhou, College ‘24

Sharmila Dey, College ‘25

Jack Silvers, College ‘25

Isabella Texeira-Ramos, College ‘26

Katalina Toth, College ‘25

Nisha Seyed, Harvard College ‘23

B.Biz, College ‘26

Olivia Eckstein, College ‘24

Patrick Forrester, Physics Department GSAS

Marisa Borreggine, GSAS ‘23

Ilana Cohen, College ‘23