![Boston University finds itself at the center of a horrifying scandal. [Image Credit: Daniel Tapia/Blasting News]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/10/10/660x290/b_502x220x82/boston-university-finds-itself-at-the-center-of-a-horrifying-scandal-image-credit-daniel-tapiablasting-news_1623147.jpg "Boston University finds itself at the center of a horrifying scandal. [Image Credit: Daniel Tapia/Blasting News]")
Harvey Weinstein isn't the only one making the news over sexual harassment allegations.
David Marchant, a professor and department chair at Boston University specializing in climate change, process geomorphology, Antarctica, and Mars, is under investigation for sexual harassing and assaulting female members of his team while they were exploring Antarctica. In other news, scientists have discovered a secret cave in Antarctica that may support life.
At least three women and two men have come forward as witnesses to Marchant’s abusive behavior. One of them, Adam Lewis, a former assistant professor of the department of geosciences at North Dakota State University, states, “This is one of the only real regrets I have in my whole life.
I had the chance to stand up for people. And I didn’t.”
A tenured professor and accomplished scientist comes forward
Jane Willenbring, the scientist who brought these allegations to light, is an assistant professor at the prestigious Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She was forced to switch her focus to the Arctic so that she could avoid Marchant. She promised herself that she would speak out once she became a tenured professor which is why she waited until October 2016 to file a complaint with Boston University.
In 1999, on an expedition in Beacon Valley, Antarctica, David Marchant is alleged to have thrown rocks at Willenbring while she urinated in the field. She stopped urinating during the day to avoid being pelted by Marchant and she developed a urinary tract infection that eventually became so serious blood started appearing in her urine.
Marchant prevented her from going back to McMurdo station, where they were based, to seek treatment.
Other attacks by David Marchant include constantly directing sexually degrading comments at Willenbring, causing her physical injuries by pushing her down a steep slope three times, and blowing volcanic ash into her eyes which left her in excruciating pain.
Thanks @jkwillenbring for your courage to stand up to #sexualharassment in geo fieldwork, your experience is familiar to me #webelieveyou https://t.co/KTXddiXGud
— Leslie Reid (@lfreid) October 8, 2017
Other women were viciously attacked
Two other women suffered similar fates while on their trips with David Marchant. One has now come forward with her own complaint and wishes to remain anonymous.
She had initially thought to file a complaint but was dissuaded by Carol Simpson, the then-department chair for research and graduate education at Boston University, because of Marchant’s reputation and because it would just be easier to move on.
The other woman, Hillary Tulley, a high school science teacher who accompanied Marchant’s team through a National Science Foundation (NSF) program called ‘Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic,’ wanted to talk about her experiences with an administrator of the NSF in private but was never granted a meeting.
