Presented By: Education Policy Initiative
The Consequences of Faculty Sexual Misconduct
Dr. Sarah Cohodes
Faculty sexual misconduct targeted at students is a widespread problem. The consequences of such incidents include direct harm to victims and may also entail a loss to science if students who encounter misconduct become discouraged from continuing their studies in their chosen field. This study links publicly available information on degree completion by institution, academic field, and gender to a database of faculty sexual misconduct incidents verified in the media or court cases. Then, a stacked event study approach is taken to document the extent to which faculty sexual misconduct decreases in-field degree completion.