Photo by Daderot via Wikimedia Commons
A former computer science Ph.D. student from Dartmouth College made seven allegations, including allegations of sexual harassment, against computer science professor Alberto Quattrini Li, according to The Dartmouth. An external investigation found that Li is not responsible for any of the seven allegations.
Officials at Dartmouth were not responding to Maha Hasan Alshawi’s claims against Li, Daily Mail reports. In turn, she went on a hunger strike last summer until officials would investigate the matter.
Alshawi made claims that Li touched himself in front of her on two different occasions in November and December 2019, according to Daily Mail. In one instance, she said he grabbed his genitals while looking at her in a “challenging” and “What are you going to do about it?” way.
Alshawi also claims that Li responded to these accusations by not inviting her to a research trip and letting a different student access her office, according to the Daily Mail.
Li denies touching himself in front of Alshawi, Daily Mail reports. He provided travel receipts for when these incidents allegedly occurred. Li stated that Alshawi did not get invited to the research trip because she did not conduct the proper research and “would not have benefitted from the opportunity to conduct field experiments.” Additionally, Li stated that Alshawi considered dropping out of the Ph.D. program. This may have influenced his decision.
Union Leader states that investigators did not find any evidence to support Alshawi’s claims. The article states that Alshawi made almost identical accusations against a professor in Egypt before she came to the U.S. The investigation team says that it hurt her credibility.
The Dartmouth, Daily Mail and Union leader all reached out to Alshawi, but received no response.
Alshawi is no longer enrolled in Dartmouth, according to Daily Mail.
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