UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks has appointed Carla Hesse as the temporary lead to address the sexual harassment and assault incidences that have occurred at the renowned university.
Students know Hesse as the dean of social sciences and as the executive dean of the College of Letters & Sciences. She has been a member of the school’s faculty since 1989.
Hesse will play a leading role in resolving all sexual assault cases against the school. She has also been tasked with establishing and training a campus peer review panel and establishing a number of protocols that are intended to keep better track of the type of reports the school receives.
In a statement, Hesse said she looked forward to being the interim point person to handle the "critical" issues.
“We all need to step up and take on this critical issue for our campus and community. I look forward to working closely with Chancellor Dirks and with the dedicated students, staff and faculty on our campus who work to prevent report and support those who have suffered from any form of sexual harassment or violence,” she said.
UC Berkeley has come under fire recently for its treatment of sexual harassment cases, three of those becoming fairly high profile.
Assistant men’s basketball coach Yann Hufnagel, Law School Dean Sujit Choudhry, famed astronomer Geoff Marcy and Vice-Chancellor of Research Graham Fleming have all resigned amid claims of that they had been harassing colleagues or students.
