For years, U.C. Berkeley Astronomer Geoffrey Marcy made headlines with his extraordinary ability to hunt exoplanets. This month, though, he’s making headlines for a different reason: violating U.C. Berkeley’s sexual harassment policies. As news of his misconduct began to catch the public eye, Marcy decided to resign from his position as a professor, expressing regret in a letter apologizing for his actions. What’s more disturbing, though, is that Marcy’s case isn’t unfamiliar to the scientific community. In fact, sexual harassment has long deterred women from pursuing careers in the sciences, furthering a male-dominated power dynamic within the field. Though scientists like Marcy produce groundbreaking data, they are certainly not immune to setting back the field’s progress.
As much as science strives for objectivity and lack of human bias, it is innately social. Reputation in the scientific community is founded upon much more than relevant scientific productivity, including network building and pre-existing authority. As it is dominated by males, and at the doctorate level in particular, the scientific community is, to some extent, insular. After all, where scientific review would ideally incorporate a diversity of viewpoints, it cannot with women so underrepresented. And even as women enter into the sciences, too often is their experience tainted by the advances of men like Marcy. This creates a self-fulfilling cycle of male power in science, which serves to turn away potentially brilliant female minds. In this way, the actions of Marcy and other deviant scientists serve to undermine the field’s diversity of thought and potential for progress.
Furthermore, Berkeley showed significant hesitation in chastising Marcy. In fact, the school drew out an investigation for six months, leading Marcy’s fellow astronomy faculty members to call for his removal. The university’s lack of response to Marcy, who stepped down of his own accord, signals another flaw in the larger academic community: universities are concerned with their own reputations. As noted in previous sources, evidence exists that complaints had been filed against Marcy over at least the last decade. They never went very far, and one can only wonder whether the University didn’t want them to. Either way, a community in which sexual harassment is tabled in order to maintain a reputation is neither healthy nor complete.
It is interesting to speculate about Marcy’s future in the scientific community. As a pioneer of exoplanet hunting, he will almost certainly be present in science history and textbooks. No doubt, he is a brilliant man capable of brilliant science, but his reputation has been forever marred. During one of my classes, the Anthropology of Outer Space, the question was raised: should Marcy’s scientific accomplishments contain an “asterisk” denoting his immoral behavior? This is a nuanced question. It is dangerous to assume Marcy’s science is wholly independent of his character. In fact, it is a direct product of his laboratory environment which, as we’ve seen, might not have been the healthiest. On the other hand, Marcy’s work was externally verified and proven to be scientifically valid. Though the scientific community around him isn’t the most diversified, statistics are statistics and good science is, as much as it can be, good science.
Overall, I would argue the “asterisk” next to Marcy’s name in textbooks and scientific papers is not the solution to this problem. At the end of the day, it will be more effective to focus on addressing Marcy’s detractions from the scientific community instead of talking about how to address his scientific achievements. His situation should spread the message that even the most charismatic and productive scientist can still work to set the field back, and can be allowed to do so in the name of scientific reputation. This disgusting trend in the scientific community must be stopped, and scientists and universities alike should work to level the power dynamic between men and women in the field.
Gage DeZoort is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at g.dezoort@cavalierdaily.com.
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