Incident 7552 - Resolved
Role:
Faculty
Position:
Researcher
Discipline:
Medicine and Health Sciences
Specific Discipline:
Psychology
Outcome Year:
1991
Outcome Category:
Barred From Federal Grants; Official Warning / Reprimand
Quote:
"A research psychologist has agreed not to seek federal support for research or training for five years, after a National Science Foundation investigation concluded that he had used a federal grant to engage in serious sexual misconduct."
"The researcher, Dennis R. Rasmussen of Madison, Wis., was once employed by an educational institution affiliated with Northeastern University. He was accused of sexually assaulting or harassing undergraduate students and teaching assistants whom he was supervising as part of a summer field study on monkeys in Mexico.
In its investigative report, the foundation’s Office of the Inspector General said it had testimony from 10 witnesses about 17 instances of alleged sexual misconduct, including one involving sexual intercourse with a teaching assistant without her consent. Only in two of the alleged incidents did the women participate voluntarily, the report said. Four of the five teaching assistants testified that Mr. Rasmussen “threatened them with professional blacklisting in the primatology community and with `academic sanctions’ if they revealed his sexual behavior.”
...
NSF officials said Mr. Rasmussen’s alleged misbehavior constituted scientific misconduct because it was inseparable from his research and undermined the program’s goal of attracting women. The grant came from an NSF program that supports undergraduate research.
The field study was a summer course offered by the School for Field Studies, a non-profit organization in Massachusetts. Students can arrange to earn credits at Northeastern for many of the courses, said Jim Elder, the school’s president."
"Other than one sexual-harassment complaint from a school employee, he said, the school had received no complaints about Mr. Rasmussen, who was warned that any further allegations of that kind would be cause for dismissal. "
"The researcher, Dennis R. Rasmussen of Madison, Wis., was once employed by an educational institution affiliated with Northeastern University. He was accused of sexually assaulting or harassing undergraduate students and teaching assistants whom he was supervising as part of a summer field study on monkeys in Mexico.
In its investigative report, the foundation’s Office of the Inspector General said it had testimony from 10 witnesses about 17 instances of alleged sexual misconduct, including one involving sexual intercourse with a teaching assistant without her consent. Only in two of the alleged incidents did the women participate voluntarily, the report said. Four of the five teaching assistants testified that Mr. Rasmussen “threatened them with professional blacklisting in the primatology community and with `academic sanctions’ if they revealed his sexual behavior.”
...
NSF officials said Mr. Rasmussen’s alleged misbehavior constituted scientific misconduct because it was inseparable from his research and undermined the program’s goal of attracting women. The grant came from an NSF program that supports undergraduate research.
The field study was a summer course offered by the School for Field Studies, a non-profit organization in Massachusetts. Students can arrange to earn credits at Northeastern for many of the courses, said Jim Elder, the school’s president."
"Other than one sexual-harassment complaint from a school employee, he said, the school had received no complaints about Mr. Rasmussen, who was warned that any further allegations of that kind would be cause for dismissal. "
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