FORD HALL Historic U. building may be important
to the future of Rutgers SEE OPINIONS, PAGE 6
TAMPONS Many hazardous ingredients can be
WRESTLING Rutgers impresses at NCAA
SEE INSIDE BEAT, PAGE 8
found in feminine products
Championships, unveils two All-Americans
SEE SPORTS, BACK
WEATHER Mostly sunny High: 47 Low: 27
Serving the Rutgers community since 1869. Independent since 1980.
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY—NEW BRUNSWICK
MONDAY MARCH 19, 2018
ONLINE AT DAILYTARGUM.COM
Rutgers investigates sexual assault allegation against professor CHRISTIAN ZAPATA NEWS EDITOR
Rutgers is currently investigating allegations made against one of its faculty members by a graduate student that alleged he sexually harassed her. Nabil Adam, vice chancellor for Research & Collaborations at Rutgers University—Newark, has been placed on administrative leave with pay following an ongoing investigation that is further assessing claims that he sexually assaulted and harassed one of his graduate students during their time together, according to an article from NJ Advance Media. The student, who has asked to remain anonymous, claimed Adam, 75, first assaulted her in January 2016 — six months after she became his research assistant and he became her dissertation advisor, according to the article. NJ Advance Media reported that the student was engaged in an 18-month long relationship with Adam that sent her through a downward spiral where she attempted suicide by swallowing pills in July 2017 — she said she became dependent on the married professor’s attention and affection. In an interview with The Daily Targum, the student said she came to Rutgers during the summer of 2015, and it was then that she first started to work with Adam as his research assistant and enrolled in the University’s doctoral program. On Jan. 14, 2016, the student reported that while working with Adam in his office at the Center for Law and Justice, he allegedly started kissing her, putting his arms around her and feeling her back up
and down in a sexualized manner, according to a recapitulation of the student’s experience working with Adam submitted to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) this January. “Professor Adam then started touching her inappropriately in between her legs and tried to pull her pants down. At that point, there seemed to be someone around in the building and Professor Adam realizes that the place was inappropriate, and both (the student) and him left thereafter. However, he then repeatedly asked her to go over to their Research Lab with him,” according to the report. The two then went to the lab at approximately 6:30 p.m. where the report stated that Adam coerced the student into unwanted sexual contact. OCR has since informed the student that as of Jan. 1 her case has been assigned a number, according to an email obtained by the Targum. After the initial incident, the student said Adam was receptive to her request to be left alone. But a few days after, he asked that they meet at her place to discuss the situation, where the student said he then engaged in similar acts and started a recurring pattern of behavior that persisted throughout the following months. “I felt helpless, because I told him that if I want to go and complain, you’re in big trouble. He said, ‘go, no one will believe you,’” she said. The student said she began to spend most of her days with Adam, sitting beside him for upward of 12 hours completing additional administrative work. Around this time, she began to develop an emotional attachment to Adam after spending so much time with him.
Nabil Adam, vice chancellor for Research & Collaborations at Rutgers University—Newark, has been placed on administrative leave following allegations of sexual assault and harassment made by one of his graduate students. RUTGERS.EDU “In terms of my mental health, I was slowly declining, and I mentioned it to him and I even shared the emails with the University where I explicitly mention that I need medical help because I feel very bad and mentally I’m declining and I feel like harming myself,” she said. On July 2, 2017, the student was admitted to the hospital after she attempted suicide by swallowing pills. She said that the day before, she forwarded a chain of messages, which copied Adam into the conversation, that detailed her declining mental health to Jaideep Vaidya, the dean’s research professor at Rutgers Business School. The student details her overbearing workload, Adam’s exploitation
of her, his push to have her drop out of the program and her depressive state. Adam responds in the thread that he never asked, nor suggested, that she drop out of the Ph.D. program and that she is free to select whichever advisor she would like to assist her on her dissertation — reiterating that no one can force her to work with them, according to the email chain. Vaidya responded the following day and forwarded these initial sexual assault allegations to Lisa Grosskreutz, director of the Office of Employment Equity (OEE). This is the third time the student attempted suicide, according to the report sent to OCR in January.
Hundreds sign to save Ford Hall at U. CHRISTIAN ZAPATA NEWS EDITOR
Prior to its closure in 2013, Ford Hall housed 67 apartments throughout four floors. It is one of the University’s oldest residence halls. GOOGLE MAPS
A student petition to save one of the University’s oldest residence halls currently has more than half of its desired 500 signatures, according to Change.org. Ford Hall, located on College Avenue adjacent to Voorhees Mall and in front of the Hillel House, was built in 1915 as a donation by former Board of Trustees member John Howard Ford, according to Rutgers Student Affairs. Now, as the University plans for its demolition, members of the community are demonstrating their resistance to the change with a Facebook page that directs those interested to the petition.
Elijah Reiss, a graduate of the School of Arts and Sciences Class of 2017, started the petition and said that rumors circling Ford Hall’s demolition have spread since 2013. The building was initially planned to function as an office building after it was brought up to fire code. In conjunction with Carla Yanni, professor in the Department of Art History, and Michael Barr, a Rutgers alumnus, the trio has made active efforts to spread awareness for the history of one of the University’s oldest landmarks. “We started the petition because we were greatly appalled to see that the University was ready to bring the wrecking ball to such an important Rutgers building,” Reiss said.
VOLUME 150, ISSUE 31 • UNIVERSITY ... 3 • OPINIONS ... 6 • INSIDE BEAT... 8 • DIVERSIONS ... 9 • SPORTS ... BACK
“She sent several emails to Professor Adam indicating her mental breakdown and desire to quit life. Professor Adam had never reported this to University Authorities or took any steps to ensure her safety. (The student’s) mental health conditions declined and she attempted suicide thrice. On the first two occasions, Professor Adam was present with her after the attempt and took care of her. On the third occasion (July 2, 2017), (she) passed out in the streets and was taken to Clara Mass Medical Center by Ambulance. Before she attempted suicide (the) third time, she had SEE PROFESSOR ON PAGE 4
Reiss, who worked on the University’s 250th anniversar y initiative and wrote his senior thesis on the histor y of Voorhees Mall — where Ford Hall sits — said that after Rutgers University Facilities and Capital Planning assessed the potential renovation they decided it would not be cost-effective. On the petition’s homepage, it reads, “The administration has decided it would be ‘cost prohibitive’ to adaptively reuse Ford Hall given the small number of users the building could eventually accommodate.” University spokesperson Neal Buccino said that Ford Hall was vacated in 2013 due to safety concerns. Fire inspectors and the construction code determined that the building could no longer function for its original intended use, according to an email to The Daily Targum. SEE HUNDREDS ON PAGE 4