The Orange County Register reports UC Irvine biologist Alexander McPherson continues to refuse an order to take a mandatory sexual harassment prevention training course.
Campus officials took McPherson off his supervisory role and told him that he could be placed on an unpaid leave from his $148,740 a year job if he didn't comply with state standards.
"This is not an assault on feminist positions. It's not about gender politics," McPherson told the Register. "This is strictly about civil liberties and academic freedom."His remarks follow an email to campus executives which says, "I have consistently refused to take such training on the grounds that the adoption of the requirement was a naked political act by the state that offended my sensibilities, violated my rights as a tenured professor, impugned my character and cast a shadow of suspicion on my reputation and career."
What do you think about this? Should supervisors at state-paid institutions be forced to take sexual harrassment prevention classes or does this hinder academic freedom?
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