April 13. 2004 Dear Professor - [am writing on the recommendation of to raise some concerns about a recent interaction I had with Professor John Searle at the Philosophy department's prospective student dinner. Professor Searle's behavior towards me at the prospective dinner was overly attentive and sexually suggestive in a way that was highly inappropriate. My purpose in writing this letter is to ask for your thoughts and action regarding various implications of this incident. lam not writing with the aim of pursuing some sort of formal action against Professor Searle in relation to this incident; rather, I am concerned with the need to raise awareness among the faculty about gender-related issues in general within our community, and with the need to develop some concrete department-level practices to prevent and/or respond to specific experiences like mine in the future. Briefly. so that you understand the source of my concern, here is a description of those aspects of Professor Searie's behavior that] felt were inappropriate: First, although he and I have never been introduced. and although he never asked me my name or told me his during the course of our interaction, Professor Searle engaged me in conversation for the entire evening. (You were talking with us until the beginning of the meal. when Professor Searle called me 'his girl' in a remark to you (as in, 'we're following my girl to the table over While he was speaking with me during dinner, Professor Searle invited me to go skiing with him in Tahoe where he apparently owns property. He informed me that in the past he had taken an undergraduate female research assistant who hadn't known how to ski at all the first time she accompanied him, but who had picked it up very quickly. He assured me that I would do the same. He also moved his foot quite pointedly to touch rrtine under the table at one point during the meal, prior to dessert. I moved my foot away and he did not touch mine again. At the end of dinner, everyone else had already begun eating dessert and there was only one plate left. Professor Searle got it and insisted that we share the remaining dessert off the same plate. It was this aspect of Professor Searle's behavior that angered and embarrassed me most. One of the two female prospective students in attendance was seated at our table. She noticed Professor Searle's behavior towards me. and mentioned it to her host afterwards in a way that indicated discomfort and disapproval Professor Searie spoke to me for most of the evening, but he did also speak to both of the female prospective students. I observed him touch both of them on the upper arm during the course of tlleir conversations with him. He did not speak to any of the male prospective students. The inappropriate attention I have described here was degrading primarily because 1 was prevented by the public, professional context from asserting myself as I normally would. Many of the graduate students in attendance made comments to me about it, so I know that the situation was obvious to many people However. it seemed likely that if I showed offense, or refused to comply with Professor Searie's overtures, I would risk hurting the department's attempt to recruit prospective graduate students by drawing even more attention to what was occurring. and consequently risk angering or alienating members of the faculty. I was also concerned about the possible consequences of offending Professor Searle. I feel Very strongly that our department has an obligation to prevent such incidents from taking place. If they do happen, the faculty ought to actively intervene, especially if they occur in the context of public departmental gatherings, or in the presence of the larger philosophical community, including prospective students. I would appreciate an opportunity to speak with you about this further. Thank you for your time and suppon, Kristina Gehrman have shown this letter to the following people, and asked them to sign it as an indication that they share my belief that the department would benefit from addressing the general concerns 1 have raised here: