Columbia Business Professor Sued for Sexual Harassment

Financial researcher, Enrichetta Ravina, 40, alleges that her colleague, a tenured Columbia University business professor, sexually harassed her. Ravina is suing the university for $20 million for failing to stop the harassment.

Geert Bekaert, 51, the alleged harasser, was posing as Ravina’s mentor. Apparently Bakaert had other things on his mind besides academics. 

Ravina is accusing Bekaert of saying the following to her: 

1. Often talking about sex and prostitutes. He told her about a time he slept with a prostitute in Hong Kong and stressed the importance of prostitutes in society saying that they “take care of a man’s sex drive.” 
2. That she didn’t give him compliments because he was “too old.”
3. That he watched porn. 
4. That he thought she was sexy. 
5. Manipulative things like “if you were nicer to me, your work will proceed much faster.”

Ravina claims when she complained to her superiors about the abuse she was experiencing, they did nothing to help her. Instead, they mocked her and accused her of instigating the attention. Though an internal investigation was launched in 2014, no violation was found. 

What do you think of these allegations?

*image by Flickr