A professor from Rutgers University who was accused of sexual harassment against a graduate student almost 20 years ago retired at the beginning of the month, according to a spokesperson for the university.

Stephen Bronner, who has taught political science at Rutgers for decades, was accused by a former graduate student of inappropriate touching while in a meeting in his office. Bronner has been under investigation over a report of sexual harassment, during which he has been sidelined from teaching.

Rutgers is not alone in sexual assault and harassment claims. Other universities, like Dartmouth, have settled sexual assault cases against multiple professors at the university.

The doctoral student who filed the complaint, Kristy King, was 23 at the time and said that Bronner invited her back to his office for a meeting on her first day as a political science graduate student at Rutgers. “As we talked, he ran his hand all the way up the inside of my thigh,” King said, according to NJ Advance Media.

She says got out of the office as soon as she could, she said, and then spent the rest of her time working on her Ph.D. avoiding Bronner when she could. She also says that other female students told her that they had also been targeted by Bronner.

The incident took place nearly twenty years ago, and King did not file a complaint at the time. However, after the growth of the #MeToo movement and as women came forward to talk about their experience with sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape, King felt empowered to come forward with a formal complaint against Bronner in February 2019.

While the university said that its policy is to not investigate incidents of sexual assault that are more than two years old, when NJ Advance Media reported about King’s incident along with reports from several others, the university dropped the policy and began an investigation. Since the university dropped that two-year time limit, six complaints have been filed against professor and campus employees.

Bronner has denied any misconduct and said that he did not recall such an incident taking place.

Bronner announced his retirement on Facebook on Nov. 3 and did not mention the investigation. Instead, he talked about “debilitating conflicts” in the political science department that have “soured the atmosphere,” according to NJ Advance Media.

Filing a Sexual Assault Lawsuit

Of course, sexual assault, abuse, and harassment can happen anywhere and can be committed by anybody, including authority figures in positions of power in trusted organizations. Sexual assault has been reported in schools, in organizations like the Boy Scouts of America and in churches, as well as across a wide variety of industries.

More and more victims are coming forward with the stories of their own sexual assaults, filing lawsuits not just against their abusers, but also against any organizations that allowed the abuse to take place, or even actively covered up the abuse.

If you or someone you love has been a victim of sexual assault or abuse, even if that abuse took place years or decades ago, you may be able to join this lawsuit investigation.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.