Florian Jaeger 'on leave,' but still active on UR campus

For the last three months, while a special committee investigates the University of Rochester over its response to alleged sexual harassment, the man at the center of it all, embattled University of Rochester professor Florian Jaeger, has been on paid administrative leave.

What does that mean?

Not, apparently, that he's been away from campus or his students.

Three people who work in the brain and cognitive sciences department, as well as those who first lodged a complaint against Jaeger, say his presence since September, when he was put on leave, has been conspicuous.

That includes interacting with students in a way that his critics say continues his control over their studies and careers.

In a lawsuit filed Dec. 8, they allege: "Jaeger, on paid leave, continues to work at BCS, move around campus and interact with students and faculty as if nothing has happened."

Three people in the BCS department said they have seen him in the department since his suspension. One, Jenna Register, is a BCS lab technician. The other two are graduate students who asked for anonymity due to fear of retaliation.

Celeste Kidd, one of the original complainants against Jaeger, said she saw an email he sent to some graduate students recently inviting them to hear a visiting researcher speak in his lab on campus (the Democrat and Chronicle did not see the email). Such events can be important professional networking events, making an invitation valuable currency.

More:What you need to know about Florian Jaeger, UR sexual harassment case

More:Lawsuit filed in UR's Jaeger sexual harassment case targets President Seligman

When asked to define the terms of Jaeger's leave, UR spokeswoman Sara Miller wrote: "Professor Jaeger’s leave was mutually agreed on with the administration in light of the controversy regarding the EEOC matter, and reflecting Professor Jaeger’s wish not to be a distraction to those enrolled in his lecture courses. He had no teaching duties this semester."

In September, Jaeger wrote: "I will be working with the University and my lab to make arrangements to ensure that the work of my students and post-docs is protected to the fullest extent possible."

He declined to discuss his leave this month, but via phone said: "I think the university has already clarified that. … It should all be in the faculty handbook or something."

No formal guidelines for administrative leave

In fact, it is not. The UR faculty handbook has several pages of provisions regarding medical leave, academic sabbaticals and other sorts of absences, but nothing about administrative leave.

It is not alone in lacking written guidance. Rochester Institute of Technology operates on "a case-by-case basis," spokeswoman Ellen Rosen wrote in an email, "based on the circumstances of the particular situation."

Cornell University has a policy in place on how suspensions are handed out but does not specify their exact terms. In the case of an emergency suspension, according to the resolution, "the scope and duration ... shall be tailored as narrowly as possible to the nature of the harm posed."

More:Jessica Cantlon, Florian Jaeger complainant, leaving UR

More:UR whistleblowers among those awarded Time's Person of the Year

The unclear nature of Jaeger's absence reflects the extensive influence that research professors like him have on their students and junior colleagues.

For top-tier faculty at universities like UR, delivering lectures in class is a marginal part of the job description. More importance is placed on research, much of it in collaboration with colleagues and graduate students.

To freeze Jaeger out completely would inflict serious collateral damage on those co-researchers, including those whose work he funds through grants he has received. Undergraduate and graduate students are also dependent on prominent faculty members for letters of recommendation or participation on dissertation reviews, among other things.

The problem of dissociating from a powerful researcher, though, is not new. Professors become unavailable for all different reasons, Kidd pointed out.

"Rochester isn’t the first place to grapple with these situations," she said. "In other cases, someone came from above and offered some aid and protection in the meantime."

In the meantime, the department and university are facing other kinds of collateral damage. Hundreds of professors from across the country have said they are recommending against attending or working at UR, and several researchers have left BCS, most recently Jessica Cantlon and Brad Mahon.

A contingent of outside professors in linguistics and neuroscience did offer help to Jaeger's students. They were led by Yale University linguist Claire Bowern, whose open letter to the Linguistic Society of America calling for attention to the problem of sexual harassment garnered more than 1,000 signatures.

JMURPHY7@Gannett.com

Includes reporting by staff writer Lauren Peace.

If document doesn't load on desktop, refresh the browser.