Students Protest Outcome of Sexual Harassment Trial

   By Brian Rosenberg
   
   Editor in Chief
   
   Seven people entered a Sloan School of Management class taught by
   Professor of Management Gabriel R. Bitran yesterday to protest the
   outcome of a recently concluded sexual harassment suit brought against
   Bitran and MIT. The seven carried posters with statements Bitran and
   others made in connection with the suit, which was brought by former
   employee Marina R. Erulkar SM '92.
   
   The trial ended Nov. 3 when the jury ruled that Bitran had not
   sexually harassed Erulkar.
   
   "As the situation stands right now, [Bitran] hasn't been punished. He
   needs to know that he can't get away with what he did," said Kyra
   Raphaelidis '94, one of the protesters. The protest was intended "also
   to let other harassers know that their behavior will not be
   tolerated," she added.
   
   "Our main purpose is to raise awareness," said Jennifer E. Carson '94,
   another protester.
   
   At around 9:20 a.m., the group entered room E51-311, where Bitran was
   teaching Operations Management in the Service Industry (15.768), and
   filed to the back of the room. One protester, Sasi K. Digavalli G,
   took a seat in the second tier. He later got up when a student in the
   class asked him for the seat.
   
   The protesters held up their posters in silence. "I could not control
   my reflexes," read one, referring to Bitran's testimony about why he
   kissed Erulkar. Another quoted Sloan Dean Lester C. Thurow as
   describing Bitran's actions as "normal Latin friendliness." The other
   posters carried similar messages.
   
   Bitran asked the group to leave, saying that they had made their point
   and that there was no point to disturbing the class further. After he
   asked them a second time, an unidentified student announced that he
   was leaving the class to find an administrator to remove the
   protesters. "I'm paying too much money for my class to be interrupted
   like this," he said as he left the room. The approximately 40 other
   students in the class broke into applause at this remark.
   
   Bitran then decided to continue the class. "I am here to teach and you
   are here to learn, so let's do our jobs," he said, to more applause
   from the class. About 20 minutes later, the student returned with a
   Sloan administrator, who held a brief conference with Bitran outside
   the room. Bitran returned and the class continued without incident for
   10 more minutes, when the protesters left.
   
   Two Campus Police officers were waiting outside the door, and two more
   arrived a few minutes later. Officers Sanders and Lewis asked the
   emerging protesters if they were MIT students, then asked for their
   names or their MIT identification. All seven claimed to not have their
   MIT IDs on their person, but Digavalla produced a driver's license.
   The others refused to give their names unless they were "legally
   obligated to do so."
   
   Lt. Cappucci then informed them that if they could not produce any
   identification and refused to give their names, they could be arrested
   for trespassing, since they were on private property. He also said
   their interruption of the class was "an illegal activity."
   
   After a few minutes of standoff in which the protesters continued to
   withhold their names, Cappucci released them. "I think arresting them
   would have been counter-productive and created more of a disturbance,"
   he said.
   
   "We've seen their faces, so if something like this happens again and
   they're involved, we can say, `We've spoken to you about this
   before,'" he added.
   
   Students in the class were critical of the protesters' actions. "I
   didn't realize we were so close to Salem. . . . This kind of vigilante
   justice is truly ugly," said Christopher P. Bolster G, referring to
   the Salem witch trials of colonial times.
   
   "I think it is unfair for them to impose this sort of thing on the
   students," said Mui-fong Goh G.
   
   Protester Ranganathan Krishnan G said that protesting in the class was
   "the most direct means of confronting the person who created the
   problem."
   
   Corrie Lathan G, another protester, said the event was "absolutely a
   success. It's just one signal in a broader plan to show MIT that
   harassment will not be tolerated."
   
   Lathan would not discuss the possibility of future protests in
   Bitran's classes, but she did say she wants to "continue the pressure
   on Bitran and on the MIT administration."
   
   Later in the day, Bitran said "I feel that people are free to express
   themselves as long as they do not violate the rights of the other
   students to be taught in the class."
   
   
   

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Copyright 1992 by The Tech. All rights reserved.
This story was published on Tuesday, November 17, 1992.
Volume 112, Number 58
The story began on page  1
and jumped to page  6.

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