EMPTY CLASSROOM

More Than 100 Harvard Students Walk Out Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

Professor John Comaroff was placed on unpaid administrative leave last year following several sexual harassment allegations.

Harvard professor John Comaroff was left with an empty classroom just minutes into his first lecture of the year on Tuesday. The professor was placed on unpaid administrative leave by the university last year following several sexual harassment allegations against him from female students, following two separate internal investigations that found him responsible for verbal sexual harassment and violating the school’s sexual harassment policies. The walkout, organized by Our Harvard Can Do Better, crammed more than a hundred students into the African and African-American Studies lecture, some of whom poured out into the hallway, according to The Harvard Crimson. “We don’t want to be taught by someone who has still not been held accountable for or made amends for their sexual misconduct,” said one of the protesting students. “John Comaroff spent his career harassing, silencing and retaliating against students. He does not belong at Harvard.” Comaroff faced a similar reception at his first lecture back in the fall 2022 semester, as well. Comaroff’s attorneys told the Crimson the professor “categorically denies that he ought to resign.”