Yale University, which has taught five US Presidents and 18 Nobel Laureates, is now facing a sexual harassment scandal, it was reported here. Daily Telegraph reported that the US Government has initiated a probe into a complaint by 16 students at the Connecticut college.
The students have alleged a string of serious assaults by groups of men that were not punished. They have also claimed that Yale's management allowed the cultivation of a "sexually hostile environment". A 26-page dossier also reveals many unpleasant incidents on campus. Last October, a group of male students who were attempting to enter the Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) fraternity, had gathered outside the dormitories of new female students and chanted: "No means yes!"
The complainants say the "band of loud men shouting threatening and pornographic language" left the first year teenage girls terrified.
Doug Lanpher, the head of DKE, said the incident was "inappropriate". "It's behind us now," Lanpher told The Daily Telegraph. In another incident, a group of male students were at the entrance to a women's building at midnight as they held a sign stating: "We Love Yale Sluts."
Two years ago, an e-mail with the subject line — "pre-season scouting report" — rated 50 women by the number of drinks male students would need before taking them to bed. US vice-president Joe Biden had even made a speech telling male students that if they forced themselves on women they were "flat-out cowards".
"No matter what a girl does, no matter how she's dressed, no matter how much she's had to drink — it's never, never, never, never, never OK to touch her without her consent," Biden was quoted as saying.