A prominent astronomer and professor at UC Berkeley announced his resignation following allegations of sexual assault.
Geoffrey Marcy, who taught astronomy and was the principal investigator of a $100 million space project, will leave his job after a Title IX investigation by the university, according to dailycal.org.
In June, an investigation implicated Marcy in acts that violate the university’s sexual harassment policy. The allegations indicated Marcy had groped students, kissed them and massaged them. A year earlier students had made the allegations to two of Marcy’s coworkers.
On October 12 the astronomy department released a statement asking the school to “re-evaluate its response to Marcy.”
Chancellor Nicholas Dirks and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Clause Steele, however, called Marcy’s conduct “contemptible and inexcusable” and called the outcome appropriate.
Marcy had been teaching a freshman seminar this semester and leading the Breakthrough Listen project, which searched for intelligent extraterrestrial life.
