BAD-BOY BEHAVIOR AT HARVARD B-SCHOOL: THE FALLOUT CONTINUES

Edited by Douglas Harbrecht

On Apr. 29, Harvard business school Dean Kim B. Clark held an open meeting with about 150 students. His purpose was to announce new training programs on sexual harassment -- and clear the air following an ugly, drawn-out internal investigation in which six male students were recently disciplined for a pattern of inappropriate behavior toward female students.

Then, the unexpected happened. During the meeting, another female student spoke up and told an obviously shocked dean that she, too, had been sexually harassed on three different occasions. When she approached the administration several times, she got no response, she said. Still another student said she had been physically assaulted in her first year but had hesitated to report it because she didn't know where to go. Both said that the problem of sexual harassment at Harvard B-school was systemic and pervasive.

The meeting was just the most recent turn in a drama that has shaken the revered business school. Students are divided over whether the recent reports are isolated incidents or whether there is something in the school's traditions and culture that fosters an environment unfriendly to women. Most of the controversy concerns an incident in which six students were disciplined for, in the words of a memo from Clark, engaging in "behavior that violated basic principles of professional conduct, mutual respect, and trust." The behavior -- first detailed by Inc. Online -- occurred in a single 80-student section of the class of 1998 during the group's first two semesters. It included the passing of sexually offensive and explicit notes as well as an ongoing pattern of inappropriate jokes and comments.

Case in point: A "Top 10" list sent to Business Week entitled "Top 10 things going through [name deleted]'s mind as she devours her banana." Among the responses: "Can I do two bananas at once? and "I wonder if [name deleted] tastes this good." While several female students complained -- both to other students and to faculty in the first two semesters -- a formal investigation was not launched until 1998. That's when some students came forward and handwriting analysis was done on the notes. Some say the lag occurred because the female students would only cooperate if they could remain anonymous. "We knew that there were some issues," says Lynn S. Paine, professor of business administration, "but there were a lot of questions surrounding willingness [to step forward]." Responds a female student: "There is a concern of retaliation from your peers."

Others say the administration was paralyzed because it was in the midst of reworking its disciplinary process and also because it was afraid of further antagonizing a group of students already divided over the episode. The events, says Clark, "clearly violated the standards of decency. But we could have taken action more quickly. We clearly did not articulate the standards we expect in the classroom." Finally, though, Harvard business school did act. Of the six students disciplined, four will not be allowed to attend graduation ceremonies and all will undergo counseling. Yet none of them will be denied their degrees, and their employers have not been notified.

While the scenario is hardly unusual in an era in which charges of sexual harassment have reached the Oval Office, what is surprising is how little attention has been given to gender-related matters at a school that tries to be in the vanguard of management issues. Harvard has long been criticized for being less attentive to women's issues than other schools. Its class of 1998 was just 24% female, and women make up just 28% of the class of 1999, vs. 38% at Columbia Business School and 32% at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

What's more, some students say that the behavior that got the six men in trouble is a natural outgrowth of the fabled HBS culture. Raucous debates, loud cheers, and jeering and public derision are common, especially in the first year, when each section attends all classes together. Many say the forced intimacy -- and the difficulty some professors have controlling their classes -- creates an environment in which behavior falls to the lowest common denominator. "The camaraderie goes beyond supportive," says one senior professor. "It is a problem that has been festering for years." Says a female student: "You can't even understand how powerful the culture is until you've gone through it."

One male student in Section G asserts that the pattern of behavior was handed down when HBS students from the previous year met the incoming class. They explained traditions, such as "top 10" lists, cheers, and types of notes. And, says the student, they used sexually explicit terminology and derogatory terms to describe women, including phrases such as "bitches" and "hos" [slang for "whores"]. "If you're gonna tell me that this was unacceptable, fine," says the student. "But this was an environment that had existed for a long time."

Others at Harvard contradict that, saying that they have had only positive experiences. "I have not experienced any hostility based on my gender," says Laila Worrell, a second-year B-school student. Says Paine: "I have encountered no feelings of that HBS old-boy network that many people presume resides here."

Still, while the case is now closed, the repercussions continue. "Our section is very fragmented," says one student in Section G. "People hate each other." Students and faculty remain skittish. And many students, though expressing very strong opinions in private, do not want their names linked to the story in any way. No matter what their reaction, they fear offending their already polarized peers further -- not to mention HBS's fabled 35,000-strong alumni network, arguably the most powerful such group in the world. "No one wants to damage the brand name," says one student.

But Harvard is hardly alone in facing these gender dilemmas. What should business schools do? Many think that highly intelligent students in their mid-20s who have been out in the workplace for several years shouldn't have to be told that such egregious behavior is off limits. But, says Laura Hartman, director of DePaul University's Institute for Business & Professional Ethics: "You're planting a bad seed if harassment is being tolerated because MBAs aren't that far away from stepping out of the classroom into the boardroom."

Nearly every business school now includes a segment on diversity, gender equality, and harassment in its student orientation. But that's not enough, says Nancy DiTomaso, professor of organization management at Rutgers Graduate School of Management and chair of the Task Force on Effective & Inclusive Learning of the International Association for Management Education (still known as the AACSB).

The task force was set up to address concerns voiced by the AACSB's board of directors, many of whom are corporate executives, that MBAs are not sufficiently sensitive to the cultural, gender, and racial issues that come up constantly in a global environment. Among some of the task force's recommendations for improving the B-school environment: conduct an initial assessment of the school culture, train and involve senior faculty and corporate advocates in promoting awareness, require teaching effectiveness evaluations, and provide regular courses or workshops to sensitize students to the effects of unprofessional behavior. The final results of the yearlong investigation, compiled in a 140-page document, will be sent within the next few days to the AACSB's 800 member schools.

At Harvard, most of those interviewed agree that some good may come out of the very public airing of the school's dirty laundry. Clark argues that discussing such issues openly with HBS students, alums, and staff will have a salutary effect. "It's a big shift," he says. The events in Section G have also accelerated some planned changes at Harvard, many of which were developed with the help of the school's Women's Student Assn. Incoming students must now attend a class to discuss sexual-harassment situations. HBS has redefined its community standards and reworked its disciplinary process to make clear what is acceptable behavior. And both student officers and faculty will now receive training on gender and diversity issues. "Those things [inappropriate behavior] will not happen in the HBS of the future," says Andrew N. Nunemaker, president of HBS's student association.

By Jennifer Reingold in Boston and Nadav Enbar in New York