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Star Economist at Harvard Faces Sexual Harassment Complaints
Roland G. Fryer Jr. in 2016. Harvard is investigating his workplace behavior at the research lab he started there.
Credit
Erik Jacobs for The New York Times

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Roland G. Fryer Jr. in 2016. Harvard is investigating his workplace behavior at the research lab he started there.CreditCreditErik Jacobs for The New York Times
By Jim Tankersley and Ben Casselman
Dec. 14, 2018

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Before he turned 40, Roland G. Fryer Jr. had earned tenure at Harvard, received a MacArthur genius grant and won the most prestigious award for young American economists. He stoked a national debate by concluding that police officers show no bias in the shootings of black men.

But his rapid ascent has taken a troubling turn as Harvard officials review a university investigators conclusion that Dr. Fryer fostered a work environment hostile to women, one filled with sexual talk and bullying.

The findings, reviewed by The New York Times, found that Dr. Fryer had engaged in unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature toward four women who worked in the Harvard-affiliated research lab he created. In one case, his persistent and pervasive conduct contributed to stress that resulted in the accusers taking disability leave, the investigator found. The investigator could not substantiate some allegations, including one asserting retaliation by Dr. Fryer.

Harvard is still investigating a similar complaint from a woman who worked in the lab a decade ago. That woman says Dr. Fryer made what she considered sexual overtures, then retaliated against her after she rebuffed him.

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Harvard is not expected to take action until officials have finished investigating all of the complaints against him, according to people familiar with the process. Possible outcomes include a reprimand, suspension or dismissal.

As an African-American, Dr. Fryer has been a trailblazer in rising to the top tier of a field dominated by white men. He was, at 30, the youngest black professor to be granted tenure at Harvard.

Now 41, he is one of Harvards best-paid faculty members, earning more than $600,000, the universitys 2016 tax filing shows. He has brought at least $33.6 million in grants to the university, according to a rsum on his Harvard web page.

The sexual-harassment accusations have unsettled the economics profession, which is struggling with a history of bias against women. Dr. Fryer was recently elected to the executive board of the American Economic Association, the most prestigious body in academic economics, and the group says it will consider the Harvard inquirys conclusions when they are released.

Dr. Fryer told a Harvard investigator that any sexual banter in his office was related to his research and in the spirit of academic freedom. He wrote in his response to the complaint that certainly no one ever brought to my attention that I ever said anything that made any employee uncomfortable.

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But in interviews with The New York Times and for Harvards investigation, former employees described Dr. Fryer as a bully and the lab as a place where sexual jokes and comments were routine, and where employees were expected to laugh along with the group or risk being isolated. Documents and interviews suggest that Dr. Fryer was told repeatedly over the course of 10 years by employees and by at least one university official that his conduct was out of line.
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