400 professors boycott University of Rochester, urging students not to attend

Hundreds of professors are urging their students not to apply to the University of Rochester, a private research university in western New York. The boycott comes after allegations that Florian Jaeger, a professor in the brain and cognitive science department, preyed on female students. Eight current and former Rochester researchers filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the university in September for what they viewed as the administration's failure to adequately protect its students.

Signatories of the boycott letter, posted online last week, said they “cannot in good conscience encourage our students to pursue educational or employment opportunities at the University of Rochester.” More than 400 professors and instructors from around the world have signed the document. The letter's authors delivered it to two board of trustees members Monday.

“We, as academics, engage in ongoing promotion of other institutions all the time. It's part of our jobs,” said Robin Panneton, a psychology professor at Virginia Tech and one of the letter's four co-authors. Professors often write letters of recommendation and suggest which graduate or postdoctoral programs their students might apply to.

Educators also advise students to steer clear of certain institutions. “There's nothing about this letter that isn't already ongoing all the time,” Panneton said.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/11/22/400-professors-boycott-university-of-rochester-urging-students-not-to-attend/