Xjyuk

My friend told me this story that happened to him a few month ago during an interview for an assistant professor position in a north-american university:

I was on a campus tour as a part of a full-day interview program and was accompanied by two members from the selection committee: the department head and one of the senior professors (in his mid-50's). Everything was normal and they were showing me the facilities each building has etc. Now, we are at the gym and out of nowhere the senior professors tells me while pointing at the climbing wall:

This climbing wall is the best place to watch young girls, I like doing that when I come to the gym.

The department head heard him and shushed him right away. He also told him to lower his voice otherwise someone will hear him and he might get in trouble (or something along this line). Honestly, I didn't know how to react, so I just kept quite and didn't comment. It still bothers me so much that I didn't respond to make him know how inappropriate his comment is.

My question has two parts:

1. Should he try to reach out to someone at the university (and who is this person?) to let them know what one of their professors who deals daily with female students said?




2. How should anyone react to such comments given that this person is on the selection committee? I know this might be a Workplace question, but I felt it fits here given these circumstances.

Although the comment was absolutely inappropriate, it wasn't directed toward your friend and had nothing to do with the selection process.

The department chair took notice of the comment in your friend's presence. We could hope the department chair will have taken appropriate action.

I think that's sufficient, especially since your friend is a candidate for a position. If your friend believes he or she must do something further, your friend could write to the department chair, saying something like, "I couldn't help but hear Professor X's comment. Have any students complained about his comments or demeanor? Should I report his remark, and to whom?" That puts the department chair on notice that you took notice, didn't like it, and are prepared to go further.

I'm going to just respond to the easier first half of the question. If this is in the US, every university has clearly designated "Title IX" officers whose job description is exactly to deal with this kind of complaint. The name and contact info of the Title IX officers should be easy to find via google. It seems unlikely to me that this remark will result in any serious action, given the typical response to much more serious allegations, but that office will know whether there have been other complaints and can keep this complaint in mind if there are further complaints in the future.

This comment is clearly inappropriate for a job interview situation, but in this situation the best response is to ignore it or change the subject.

The gym is a public place. In most locations, there is no right to privacy in public places. Anyone can watch anybody at the gym.

If you object to "watching young girls," I would point out that this is perfectly normal. According to Wikipedia, about 10 million people watch episodes of "The Batchelor," which is apparently a show about women of the same age you would see in a college gym. (I don't have a TV.) I'm pretty sure nearly all of those 10 million people also deal daily with females, without any difficulty.

The idea that watching certain people will lead to sexual misconduct is wrong and paranoid.