Appropriate sanctions

In the context of my job, I have been doing a lot of research into training delivery through the Internet. One of the professors I’ve watched is a guy named Walter Lewin, a professor of physics at MIT. His recorded teaching was energetic and fascinating and even a lot of fun. He had some truly delightful recorded lectures on the Net and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

And now, for the most part, they’re gone.

It turns out, this guy had been using his cachet as a ‘great professor’ and his access to lots of eager students to feed his penchant for sexual harassment. I won’t go into it here – you can easily look him up – but suffice to say the guy is a real pig. And when one of the women complained, MIT conducted an investigation. When they determined the charges had merit, they disassociated from him, taking away his emeritus status and disavowing him. They couldn’t fire him, since he’d retired in 2009. What they did was erase his standing and to a guy like this, standing is everything.

So far, so good. But then, MIT started a campaign to further distance themselves from this guy by pulling down any and all of his lectures, presentations, in fact any and all reference to him in any way being connected to the Institute. Not that they hid from their long and mutually profitable association, they stood up and announced exactly what he’d done, what they did when they found out and why. Follow the link below if you’re interested. They announced to the academic universe that they were determined not to be in any way associated with the scumbag.

(Sorry, Doctor Scumbag. Harrumph!)

The rub came recently when some misguided folks, including some of his colleagues among academics around the world, complained that by taking down his recorded courses and demonstrations, the Institute was actually hurting the students, present and future who might benefit from his enlightened teaching. At least one guy posted a diatribe in which he hinted that Lewin’s foibles paled in comparison to the greater good to be gained from continued availability of his recorded brilliance.

MIT won’t budge. Not only did his actions violate their principles and policies regarding proper conduct and their duty to protect each other from harm, but the investigation found that he actually used MIT-x and Ed-x channels as part of his harassment scheme. So down he came. And this all happened quickly, by investigative standards. The first whisper of all this came to MIT officialdom’s attention in October and now, three months later the investigation has been conducted, measures decided upon, the severance of ties announced and while you can still find Lewin all over the Net because that’s the nature of the Web, nothing by or concerning him other than the severance announcement can be found through MIT’s website.

 A creep like this lives for his fame and stature. And losing it all, including the esteem of most of the academic community (whatever, there will always be a few chowderheads), is a fitting end to a career that as it turns out, never should have been celebrated. The only sad element of MIT’s response is that it did not involve forfeiture of any tender body parts.

Where’s the ol’ gelding knife when you really need it?

  http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/lewin-courses-removed-1208