WilmerHale
released
its
88-page report of its independent
investigation of allegations of
sexual misconduct by former Uni-
versity of Michigan Provost Mar-
tin Philbert Friday. The report
found “significant evidence” that
Philbert violated the Universi-
ty’s Sexual Harassment policy. It
identified numerous times when
University personnel and adminis-
tration received information about
Philbert’s sexual misconduct.
“Two things are clear: First,
there is significant evidence that
Philbert engaged in a wide range
of sexual misconduct, including
sexual harassment, for at least
fifteen years,” the report reads.
“Second,
neither
OIE
(Office
of Institutional Equity) nor the
senior leadership of the University
understood the seriousness or the
pervasiveness of Philbert’s mis-
conduct.”
WilmerHale began its inde-
pendent investigation in January
2020. After six months, Wilmer-
Hale
investigators
interviewed
128 people, some multiple times,
including
current
and
former
employees, former students and
current and former University
administrators.
The report finds that Philbert
normalized
his
inappropriate
behavior and intimidated women
who may have sought to report
him.
“Philbert had expressly threat-
ened some of them—one witness,
who in fact was in a relationship
with Philbert, told us that he said:
‘If you ever tell anyone about us, I
will make sure you go down. I will
destroy your career,’” the report
reads.
The report alleges Philbert sex-
ually harassed multiple members
of the University community while
he was an assistant professor, an
associate dean, School of Public
Health dean and provost. In his
early years at the University, Phil-
bert allegedly harassed women
who worked in his research lab,
making comments about their
bodies, redirecting conversations
toward sex and insisting on get-
ting hugs. The report found Phil-
bert engaged in simultaneous
sexual relationships with at least
two University employees, and
sometimes more, during his tenure
as Provost. He stored nude photos
of these women on University-
owned devices and had “sexual
contact” with them in University
offices often.
The report was released to both
the University and the public at
the same time. In an email to The
Daily, University spokesman Rick
Fitzgerald said the University is
reviewing the results from the
report.
“We have just begun to careful-
ly review the full report and take
all of its findings into account,”
Fitzgerald wrote. “Yet, it is clear
in the executive summary that the
WilmerHale report – released pub-
licly today at the same time it was
shared with university officials –
contains a shocking description of
improper and unacceptable behav-
ior by a university officer as well
as failings by this institution. We
will do everything in our power
to prevent such misconduct from
ever happening again at the Uni-
versity of Michigan.”
In 2003, a male lab employee,
Tom Komorowski, was terminated
by Philbert. He reported to Uni-
versity officials he was fired over
a female lab employee because
of her and Philbert’s close, per-
sonal relationship. A senior Pub-
lic Health School faculty member
questioned Philbert about the
alleged relationship and did not
3
Thursday, August 6, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS
On Sept. 2, 2019, The Daily
reported on the University of
Michigan University Health Ser-
vice’s controversial move to dis-
continue coverage of sexually
transmitted infection testing for
students to be included in tuition.
Two days later, an online peti-
tion demanding reinstatement of
coverage for STI testing was in
circulation — and already at 1,400
signatures. Two days after that,
the University announced its plan
to reverse its policy and reinstated
coverage for the testing. In a mat-
ter of four days, the student orga-
nizers’ demands had been met.
While petitions and student
activism are not rare at the Uni-
versity, this example of swift
administrative response to the
demands of a petition is relatively
atypical. With multiple petitions
currently in circulation concern-
ing the University’s plans for the
upcoming school year that have
yet to be addressed, it raises ques-
tions about what makes student
petitions effective.
In a 2019 interview with The
Daily, E. Royster Harper, former
vice president for Student Life,
commented on the varying suc-
cess of student activism following
the STI testing petition’s favorable
outcome. Harper highlighted the
many factors University adminis-
trators weigh when making deci-
sions, including both financial
decisions for the University and
the needs of the student.
“I think usually when the Uni-
versity makes a decision, there are
multiple things that they are try-
ing to get accomplished,” Harper
said. “In this case, (those factors
were) money and making sure the
students get good health care … So
what the University is weighing
is, when we consider everything,
where do we need to be? Some-
times what we decide is, we can’t
change. This is not one of those,
because when we put every-
thing together, it makes sense to
change.”
University alum Hoai An Pham,
one of the authors of the petition to
reinstate coverage for STI testing,
said part of what made that peti-
tion particularly effective in rally-
ing student support especially was
its clear identification of individu-
al student’s stake in the decision.
As a digital organizer and author
of multiple petitions in her time
at the University, including peti-
tions demanding fair contracts for
lecturers and opposing Richard
Spencer’s request to speak at the
University, Pham reflected on the
effect of privilege on student sup-
port for different activist efforts.
“I think that at times, the privi-
lege of the student body in gen-
eral, and the privilege of being a
university student in general …
creates a barrier for students to
understand their role in certain
issues, and the specific action they
can take to be pushing towards
any kind of resolution or justice,”
Pham said.
Despite these and other limita-
tions, including the critique that
signing petitions can merely serve
as virtue-signaling, Pham also
emphasized the accessibility of
petitions and other digital forms
of engagement.
“Oftentimes I think people
view
petitions
as
standalone,
which is I think how they do get
the reputation of like, signing the
petition won’t do anything,” Pham
said. “(But) there is an ableist
component of that … As a disabled
organizer I’m always like, ‘Well,
digital organizing is really impor-
tant, and there’s a lot of power
that we can build behind it.’”
LSA senior Morgan McCaul,
an organizer at the University
who focuses on students’ rights
regarding Title IX policies, also
emphasized the role petitions
play in digital organizing. McCaul
authored a petition demanding
the University commit to survi-
Students and administrators
talk effectiveness of petitions
JULIANNA MORANO
Daily Staff Reporter
Design by Hibah Chugtai
Two decades of
misconduct from
Philbert uncovered
CALDER LEWIS &
KRISTINA ZHENG
Summer News Editors
Read more at michigandaily.com
WilmerHale investigation finds several ‘U’ officials
knew about accusations against former Provost
Community members
have different views
on activism efforts
Read more at michigandaily.com