A high-profile harassment case 7 years ago in California is now reverberating in Europe, with implications for those who speak out against “the hiring of known harassers.”
In February 2018, two astrophysicists at the University of Helsinki, Syksy Räsänen and Till Sawala, spearheaded an open letter from more than 70 Finnish astronomers and astrophysicists broadly condemning harassment and discrimination. An accompanying press release also expressed the group’s dismay that Christian Ott, a U.S. astrophysicist who was suspended by and subsequently resigned from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) after it found he had committed gender-based harassment, was about to start a postdoc job at Finland’s University of Turku.
Combined with similar protests by other scientists, their actions had the desired effect: Within days Turku rescinded its offer and Ott never went to work at its Tuorla Observatory. But next week, a district court in Finland will decide whether the two researchers went too far.
Spurred by a complaint Ott filed with the police 8 months after losing the Turku job, the Finnish government last year charged Räsänen and Sawala with defaming Ott and spreading information that violated his privacy. The two scientists face a substantial fine and a suspended prison sentence if found guilty. The case is one of several legal battles Ott has waged to clear his name, joining other scientists who have turned to the courts after losing jobs or status because of harassment findings.
In December 2017, days before Ott’s resignation from Caltech took effect, the University of Stockholm’s Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics offered him a short-term appointment. But pushback from faculty led Stockholm officials to reconsider their decision. They contacted Turku, which on 31 January 2018 offered Ott a 2-year contract to start on 1 March.
News of his imminent hiring prompted Räsänen and Sawala to help draft the public statement and a private letter to senior Turku administrators. After Turku announced it was pulling out of the deal, Ott sued both European universities for breach of contract, demanding $1 million in damages, along with reimbursement for lost salary and other expenses. In May 2019, a Swedish court awarded him the equivalent of $66,000, and in March a court in Turku added the equivalent of $89,000.
After looking into Ott’s criminal complaint, Finnish government prosecutors decided not to press charges. But Ott appealed, and prosecutors announced in May 2021 the case would go forward. District Judge Stina Selander heard testimony over the summer and is expected to rule on 17 November.
Ott has long maintained that being labeled a harasser has deprived him from working in his chosen field. Among other professional setbacks, Ott says he was forced to resign from the scientific team for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, whose leadership won a Nobel Prize in 2017.
“The publicity destroyed his life, and Räsänen and Sawala were the ringleaders,” says his lawyer, Pontus Lindberg. In his testimony, Ott said he hoped the judge’s ruling would be “something that will hurt them but will not make it impossible for them to continue with their research.”
Speaking last week to Science, Sawala’s lawyer, Jussi Sarvikivi, said the prosecutor’s position appears to be that “any commentary on the Caltech finding demonstrates an intent to harm” Ott because it inevitably casts Ott in a poor light.
During the trial, the defendants’ lawyers argued that their clients were relying on “reliable news sources” of what happened at Caltech and had no reason to question their accuracy. The laws under which Räsänen and Sawala are charged also exempt statements about a public figure or someone engaging in a “public activity,” a category that includes science.
Räsänen and Sawala declined to comment pending the judge’s decision. But in their testimony, they said they were simply speaking out on an important issue facing their profession. “It is the duty of every member of the scientific community to prevent harassment,” Räsänen told the judge. “When a harasser can simply move to another institution,” Sawala wrote in the 2018 press release, “it is a slap in the face of individuals who suffer harassment.”
Caltech is not a party to the case, but its finding that Ott was guilty of gender-based harassment against two graduate students looms over the proceedings. Caltech has issued just a few brief public statements about the case, but newly disclosed documents provide additional details.
In January 2016, Caltech’s president, Thomas Rosenbaum, announced that a faculty member had been suspended without pay for the 2015–16 academic year and required to undergo additional mentorship training. It later acknowledged Ott was the subject. Ott then returned to Caltech’s payroll in July 2016 on paid leave. That detail, previously unreported, is contained in letters to him from Fiona Harrison, chair of Caltech’s physics, math, and astronomy division, that Ott provided to Science. In court filings, Ott reported 2017 income of $204,000 from Caltech.
In May 2017, Harrison wrote to Caltech employees that Ott’s progress was being monitored and a decision “about [Ott’s] possible return” to the faculty would be made in the fall. But 3 weeks earlier, she provided a federal funding agency with more information, according to a letter provided by Ott. Ott would regain regular faculty status at the start of the 2017–18 academic year, Harrison wrote on 27 April to the National Science Foundation, which was funding some of his research. Ott would “work on his research projects, including interacting with students and postdocs,” Harrison wrote. Caltech declined to comment on her letters.
But that wasn’t the final chapter. On 1 August 2017, a memo from Rosenbaum noted Ott had “made significant progress … [but] remained a divisive element on campus” and that Ott “has decided to resign, effective 31 December.”
The 2018 open letter from the Finnish astronomers makes room for what it calls “the possibility of rehabilitation” for harassers if it’s preceded by “acknowledgment of the offense and taking responsibility for the harm caused.” Ott says he asked repeatedly to sign onto the letter but was rebuffed.
In their testimony, Räsänen and Sawala said Ott refused to answer when asked whether he acknowledged causing harm. And a 2016 complaint Ott filed with the U.S. government places most of the blame for his downfall on his then-employer.
“Caltech’s fear of public outcry and potential litigation … led it to botch the investigation of Dr. Ott’s prudent and responsible, although certainly not perfect, interactions with the two graduate students,” Ott wrote in a filing with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which oversees harassment investigations under Title IX. In addition, Ott wrote, “it discriminated against [Ott] because he was a man and the complainants are women.”
OCR said the complaint fell outside its jurisdiction and suggested he contact another federal agency that handles allegations of employment discrimination, according to a letter Ott provided to Science. “But I decided against it at the time,” Ott says, “because Caltech had promised to reinstate me.”
Clarification, 16 November, 11:20 a.m.: This story has been updated to clarify several details about the case.
Correction, 9 November, 10 a.m.: The story has been clarified to reflect Caltech’s finding that Christian Ott committed gender-based harassment in violation of the university’s policies.
