The current chair of the Department of Philosophy of Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa is suing the former department chair, who she says “stalked and harassed” her. She is also suing the College, its provost, and a dean, whom she says mishandled her complaints and allowed the former chair to retaliate against her.
The current chair is Megan Altman, a tenured associate professor. Jim White is the former department chair.
The Des Moines Register reports:
According to her complaint, filed last month, White had a number of inappropriate interactions with Altman dating back to at least 2023, in which he complained about her making other friends, told her “I need you to need me,” and threw tantrums when she began trying to avoid him.
He also allegedly tried to interfere with an overseas work opportunity, telling her it was because he would miss her, made statements to other faculty about how he could “destroy” Altman and threatened to retire if she refused to return his affection.
Altman filed a Title IX complaint, writing, says the Register, that she was “terrified” by White’s “increasing and continuous sexual harassment and his strange and inconsistent behavior.”
She obtained a no-contact order against White, initially requiring him and her to use their office building at separate times. White later moved his office to another location.
Then about a month after she filed her complaint, White filed his own complaint against her, which the College apparently then tried to use as a wedge to get her to drop her complaints:
Altman says Cornell allowed White to file his “openly and obviously retaliatory complaint,” and that multiple administrators told her White had offered to drop his complaint if she dropped hers and encouraged her to accept this “informal resolution.” Dean of Students Jackie Wilson, who is named as a defendant, allegedly warned her that if she continued with her complaint, she could be found guilty of sexual misconduct.
Altman says she filed another complaint against White for retaliation, but the [college] dismissed it in January 2024.
You can view the lawsuit here, and read more about it here and here.
Why post this? Are you sure enough the charges are true to takes sides, joining in the plaintiff’s campaign against the accused, adding to his public shaming and shunning? It doesn’t look like his side was shared or even sought here. I’m not saying I see reason to doubt her claims, I’m just questioning whether there’s enough to justify stepping in and joining her effort to make them public record. Otherwise, one should stay out of it.
It’s already publicly written about in a news source. Eventually somebody in the profession will talk about it. And it will inevitably be shared on social media. It’s not like he dug up this case from the court. Either they find out about it here or on Twitter or other websites, people will still know about it. Your complaint should be towards the news writer/source.
I agree that if it makes no difference to post an item on DN, in terms of who views it, or how many view it, then my concern is misplaced. But I gather it was posted on the assumption that it does make a difference (otherwise, why post it?). And it’s a worthy assumption: DN’s is, for one, a different audience, one that matters in different ways to the principals than that of the De Moines Register. I almost certainly would never have found out about the story had it not appeared here.
This story was just wrote about this month. Of course, you wouldn’t have heard of it yet. Eventually, it will become popular like many other sexual harassment cases with or without Justin’s post. Academic philosophy is a small field.
He also linked The Gazette: “White did not immediately respond to an email from The Gazette.”
That’s two news sources. More will be written about it. Publicity is inevitable.
It seems like the defendant refused to comment so of course we’re hearing more of Altman’s side. I’m sure Justin will keep us updated on the case.
I wish I can be as confident as you that these events — at a small department in a small liberal arts college — would have become “popular,” as you say, even if not shared in DN or someplace similar. But I find that at best debatable. What is not debatable is that posting it here effectively makes it public record in our profession, which is not as small as you say. I would like to assume that DN would never weigh in such a potentially impactful way, or even risk doing so, unless it had independent evidence of the accuser’s charges, or is actively seeking the opposing party’s story. But I have to admit I’m worried.
Nobody (yet) is weighing in though. He’s just reporting it. White was considering retiring too, according to the sources, so maybe that’s why this thread is quiet.
There’s little point or incentive in shaming a professor who’s going to leave anyways. He’ll probably be forgotten in the next few years.
The chair can also confirm or deny Altman’s charges since, according to the article, “The petition claims White admitted to the chair of the department he was obsessed with Altman.”
Some people other than Altman and White are going to have to explain themselves.
I wonder how many situations like this arise because departments don’t get to simply use HR the first time someone does something odd. My friends in other jobs have had to see HR for pointing a finger in anger, for various things they’d said. But it happens quickly, they get explanations as to why to stop, it’s normalized and they do not resent it much. As far as I can tell we professors are stuck having to go to a Dean only and “if you cause a problem you become the problem” seems true. The University apparatus can be expected to turn against you full force (they might hire an attorney to find something on you, that’s been done). Add to this that organizations that consult (I think it is called the High Conflict Institute) claim that high-conflict behavior (refusal to admit fault and then targeting of a person who blamed them) happens in academia far more than in other workplaces. I see why HR is not used by academics the way it is in business (another friend calmly has dishonest emails forwarded to HR to save and consider until it is time to address a hire’s promotion, I see that model does not work for us) but for non-promotion related matters why can’t we just tell HR she’s yelling again, or he said it again, like they seem to get to do so many other places. Would seem to be deescalating and Deans do not seem to be very well-equipped for handling these issues.