UC Berkeley is under fire again for its handling of sexual misconduct allegations. A new lawsuit alleges that university officials failed to properly respond to complaints that John Searle, an 84-year-old renowned philosophy professor, sexually assaulted his 24-year-old research associate last July and cut her pay when she rejected his advances, according to BuzzFeed News. The researcher, Joanna Ong, was then fired by a Searle associate in September, the lawsuit alleges. Last year, UC Berkeley was rocked by complaints that Chancellor Nicholas Dirks had failed to properly discipline three prominent faculty members found to have violated university rules against sexual misconduct. In a statement, UC Berkeley said it had not yet received a copy of Ong's lawsuit and could not comment because of "privacy laws and university policy."

Source: Los Angeles Times March 23, 2017 21:00 UTC