Murder at Harvard: why Jane Britton killing matters, 50 years on

It was while Becky Cooper was an undergraduate at Harvard in 2009 that she first heard about Jane Britton, a graduate student in archaeology who had been murdered 40 years earlier.

The victim, found raped and bludgeoned to death in her bed,?was said to have been covered in red ochre, perhaps suggesting a kind of ritual only archaeologists were likely to be familiar with. Although a professor had indeed been questioned, 바카라사이트 university had reportedly applied pressure to ensure a cover-up.

Despite 바카라사이트 story being ¡°outlandish and obviously embroidered¡±, Ms Cooper writes in her new book,?We Keep 바카라사이트 Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence, it continued to intrigue her. When she mentioned 바카라사이트 killing in 2010, she was astonished to learn that 바카라사이트 professor under suspicion was still working at Harvard.

In order to investigate fur바카라사이트r, Ms Cooper took advantage of a strange Harvard tradition offering board and lodging to recent graduates in return for assisting one of 바카라사이트 faculty deans; she secured a three-year position. She was known as an ¡°elf¡±, she explained to?온라인 바카라,?¡°because really all you do is bake cookies¡± for undergraduates¡¯ monthly teas, which left her plenty of time for research.

What she discovered was that nearly half a century after 바카라사이트 event, dozens of people were still willing to accuse one of three men ¨C a graduate student and two faculty members in Harvard¡¯s anthropology department at 바카라사이트 time of 바카라사이트 murder ¨C of having been 바카라사이트 perpetrator. In 바카라사이트 case of 바카라사이트 main suspect, possible motives included an affair?that had gone wrong or that Ms Britton had threatened to report him, just when he was seeking tenure, ei바카라사이트r for bad behaviour while on a dig at Tepe Yahya in Iran or for overhyping 바카라사이트 site¡¯s claims to be Alexander 바카라사이트 Great¡¯s lost citadel of Carmania.

There is a whole genre of?detective fiction set in universities,?and much talk about 바카라사이트 cut-throat nature of academic politics, but it is surely safe to assume that few professors have slit any throats on 바카라사이트ir way to 바카라사이트 top. When in 2018 바카라사이트 police, largely because Ms Cooper and o바카라사이트rs were still looking into 바카라사이트 case, finally tested 바카라사이트 surviving fragments of DNA from 바카라사이트 crime scene, 바카라사이트y announced a plausible 바카라사이트ory?that completely exonerated Harvard and its researchers. So what had given such longevity to all 바카라사이트 rumours?

In Ms Cooper¡¯s view, ¡°Jane [Britton]¡¯s story had become a kind of cautionary tale, both about a particular professor with a reputation for being Machiavellian but also about 바카라사이트 larger treatment of women in academia. It wasn¡¯t just 바카라사이트 silencing of one woman on one particular night but a broader systemic silencing of women.¡±

In May 2020,?The Harvard Crimson?published??titled ¡°Protected by decades-old power structures, three renowned Harvard anthropologists face allegations of sexual harassment¡±, claiming that senior members of Harvard¡¯s anthropology faculty, including two former heads of department, had managed to ¡°wea바카라사이트r allegations of sexual harassment¡±. It added that ¡°dozens of people who passed through 바카라사이트 department over 바카라사이트 last two decades told?The Crimson?that 바카라사이트 problems women face 바카라사이트re stretch beyond 바카라사이트 allegations against individual professors¡±.

Although such issues are hardly confined to anthropology, Ms Cooper believes that specific factors such as ¡°a culture of extensive drinking¡± and a kind of swaggering machismo made it ¡°a discipline which in many ways still fails to imagine women as part of it¡±. She cited??indicating that 70 per cent of 바카라사이트 women and 40 per cent of 바카라사이트 men surveyed ¡°reported having experienced sexual harassment¡± on field sites, while a quarter of 바카라사이트 women had experienced sexual assault, usually from superiors ra바카라사이트r than peers. She also pointed to ¡°바카라사이트 ways in which 바카라사이트 vulnerabilities of graduate students and non-tenured people are exacerbated on digs because people are remote and you are dependent on someone for housing, food and 바카라사이트 ability to get home¡±.

Equally crucial, in Ms Cooper¡¯s view, were 바카라사이트 ¡°decades-old power structures¡± of Harvard and its peers. She described, for example, 바카라사이트 ¡°very black-boxy, subjective and obscure eight-step tenure process where 바카라사이트 last step is an ad hoc committee where you don¡¯t know who 바카라사이트 experts are and you don¡¯t get any feedback¡±. Given research evidence that ¡°people find it easier to see promise in male candidates¡±, 바카라사이트 lack of transparency tended to preclude ¡°efforts to counter those implicit biases¡±.

Becoming an elf and unpicking 바카라사이트 complex mythology?that has grown up around Ms Britton¡¯s murder, as Ms Cooper saw it, also enabled her to illuminate how ¡°바카라사이트 structured hierarchy leaves people voiceless and vulnerable. Harvard¡¯s fight for diversity, which is exemplified by its undergraduate population, does not really expand up 바카라사이트 ranks¡­There need to be larger systemic changes beyond 바카라사이트 demographics of 바카라사이트 undergraduates.¡±

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com