A University of California, Berkeley professor has been suspended by the school for three years without pay for sexually harassing a student.
Eva Hagberg Fisher, a graduate student, filed a complaint with the university against architecture professor Nezar AlSayyad in 2016 for sexual abuse. He was accused of continuously harassing Hagberg, and placing his hand on her upper thigh and offering a Los Vegas trip.
An investigation by the school, after going through the evidence, found AlSayyad guilty of sexual misconduct and using power for “personal gains.”
“Chancellor Christ determined that Professor AlSayyad’s pattern of unwelcome, manipulative, and divisive behavior was harmful to students, including you specifically, and to his faculty colleagues,” Vice Provost Benjamin Hermalin wrote to Hagberg on August 13.
The San Francisco Chronicle investigated AlSayyad in 2016 and found numerous complaints of misbehavior, including sexual abuse, against him dating back to 1990s. A former faculty member told the Chronicle that he was even removed from the student’s thesis committee for his inappropriate conduct.
Meanwhile, the professor has been denying the charges and his attorney Dan Siegel has threatened to sue the university for the suspension.