High-ranking U-M official has years of misconduct allegations — and school knew

More than 20 women have now made sexual misconduct complaints against University of Michigan Provost Martin Philbert, some stretching back more than a decade, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the investigation.

Not all of the allegations were unknown to the university. At least three times over the years, complaints about Philbert's behavior were made to administrators at the school, multiple sources said.

One of those involved a lawsuit that was settled that contained allegations of Philbert and a researcher in his lab having a physical relationship. The other two complaints revolved around what multiple sources called Philbert's verbal "overtures" to various people working with and for him during his time at the school. The other complaints were filed after Philbert was placed on administrative leave last month and involve various levels of sexual harassment, sources said.

The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about Philbert or the investigation.

Philbert has been promoted multiple times at the university, including into his current position as the top academic officer at the Ann Arbor school.

Philbert is on paid administrative leave while the university investigates the complaints against him. The university announced the leave Jan. 22 after multiple complaints by women were filed against him with the school's Title IX office.

Outside investigators hired by the university to probe the initial complaints are now working back over Philbert's career at U-M, sources said.

Philbert has been at U-M since 1995 and is known as a talented, charming, empathetic researcher and administrator. He also is known for making inappropriate comments, said multiple sources who either work with him or used to work with him.

He is the highest-ranking administrator at U-M to be accused of sexual misconduct. U-M, like other campuses, is in the midst of ongoing controversy and debate over how it handles sexual misconduct allegations. U-M is also the center of a landmark court ruling that changed the way allegations by students are handled across the Midwest.

Philbert was unable to be reached for comment.

U-M also declined to answer specific questions about Philbert, his past at the university or the investigation.

"We believe it is critical that we all allow the outside investigators to determine the facts," U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald told the Free Press. "While that process is ongoing, there is very little we will be able to say. Responding to your individual questions could undermine that investigation — and we will not do that.

"It’s also important that we make sure those who are coming forward with information get the support they need. The university urges anyone who may be aware of prohibited conduct at the university to report it to U-M Police, the Office for Institutional Equity or a confidential source, such as SAPAC, the university’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center."

A surprise?

The ding of email boxes all across U-M's campus in the early afternoon of Jan. 22 brought with it a bombshell — the school's provost was on paid leave while an investigation was started into sexual misconduct allegations.

U-M President Mark Schlissel outlined what had happened and the process.

"With the endorsement and full support of the U-M Board of Regents, I have placed Dr. Philbert on administrative leave, effective Jan. 21, 2020, pending the results of an investigation we began on Friday, Jan. 17," Schlissel wrote. "We take allegations of sexual misconduct very seriously, and our policy is clear: Sexual misconduct will not be tolerated in the University of Michigan community."

More: Michigan Provost Martin Philbert placed on leave after sexual misconduct allegations

More: U-M's official statement on Philbert leave

Schlissel's message did not detail the complaints against Philbert.

The university hired an outside law firm, Washington, D.C.-based WilmerHale, to investigate, the school's police department began its own probe and Philbert was told not to come to work. Attorneys with WilmerHale are now deep diving into Philbert's past.

At U-M, the Office for Institutional Equity would normally do an investigation into allegations and is supposed to report directly to the provost. Schlissel moved this investigation to report to Associate Vice President for Human Resources Richard Holcomb.

"The U-M Board of Regents and I are committed to a full and thorough investigation, and we will continue to work to ensure the integrity of the process, following the same policy and practices that apply to all employees at U-M. It remains early in the investigation, and no findings or conclusions have been reached," Schlissel said.

Philbert has spent his entire career in academia. He makes $570,000 a year.

He earned a bachelor of science in 1984 from the College of Arts and Technology at Cambridge, and then received a doctorate in 1987 from the London University Royal Postgraduate Medical School. In 1988-90, Philbert was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship in the Neurotoxicology Laboratories at Rutgers University. Philbert was a research assistant professor at Rutgers Neurotoxicology Laboratories until 1995, then became an assistant professor of toxicology at U-M's School of Public Health. He eventually was promoted to professor. In 2000 to 2003, he also served as associate chair for research and development in the department of environmental health sciences. In 2004, Philbert was appointed senior associate dean for research in the School of Public Health, a position he kept through 2010 when he was appointed dean. He was named provost in September 2017.

While the allegations against Philbert were a surprise to many, they were a rerun to many, who said Philbert had been reported before. Now those people are watching to see whether this time is any different.

A lawsuit

Shortly after Thomas Komorowski was laid off in December 2003 from his job as a research associate at U-M, he filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the school. Komorowski was a researcher making just over $60,000 a year working in Philbert's lab.

Philbert, at the time, was a noted professor in the U-M School of Public Health, climbing the ladder of the academic ranks. In 2004, he became the senior associate dean for research for that school.

In the suit, filed in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, Komorowski painted a picture of being let go because Philbert was having a physical relationship with a female researcher, who is unnamed in the suit. Komorowski said Philbert showed him a nude picture of her. He also said a doctoral assistant told him he once saw the woman "grabbing Martin's rear end," and that later the same evening, she did the same to the doctoral assistant "to make it look like it was no big thing."

In his deposition, Komorowski said he was pushed out of his job because "Philbert's favorite young female researcher" wanted a position in Philbert's lab.

Philbert, in a deposition, denied getting rid of Komorowski to save a spot for the female researcher. He said the grant Komorowski was being paid with ran out.

However, Philbert did say the female researcher did touch his butt, but it was only a joking gesture.

"As I recall, there were a group of us in the hallway adjacent to the lab," he said. "I don't remember the substance of the conversation but that it was fairly jovial, at which point (the researcher) made a comment and to my recollection smacked me on the butt."

The court dismissed some of Komorowski's claims, but U-M settled the suit. Terms of the settlement were not available.

Familiar story

As he worked in the dean's office in charge of research at the school, Philbert was known for an outgoing personality. He also was kind, empathetic and caring, often spending lots of time listening and talking with those who worked around him, multiple people who knew him then told the Free Press. Philbert was also known to hug — men and women — a lot. Some saw him as narcissistic and manipulative.

He also was known for "overtures" or making sexually charged comments that went over the line, those sources said. Many women just ignored them, let them slide because of their relationship with Philbert or felt if they reported, they would be retaliated against, those sources told the Free Press.

However, in 2009, one women did report to her supervisor in the dean's office that Philbert had sexually harassed her. It's unclear what happened, if anything, to Philbert. The Free Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Philbert's personnel file. That request has not been filled by U-M as of Tuesday.

By 2010, Philbert was in line for another promotion, this time to dean of the School of Public Health. He was one of several internal candidates to apply. The search committee, however, only moved Philbert's candidacy on to the next step — approval from the provost, president and board. He was eventually named as the dean.

That move prompted an anonymous email sent to the leader of the search committee and copied to the entire School of Public Health.

"Although you just 'announced' the last candidate for the UMSPH Dean position, many at the University have been discussing this for weeks and it was no surprise to see that your dear friend Martin Philbert was put forward as the only internal candidate for the SPH Dean position," said the email, sent in September 2010. "Although you have a search 'committee' working with you, one has to wonder what you did to manipulate this process to leave out two outstanding viable internal candidates. Is this perhaps to ensure that Dr. Philbert has no real competition. ... "

The following Monday afternoon, Phil Hanlon, then U-M's provost, responded with an email to the entire school of public health, which the Free Press obtained.

"This kind of vicious, personalized and anonymous attack threatens the collegiality of the School and violates all standards of professional behavior," Hanlon wrote. He added he had received two similar emails over the course of the summer and had spoken to members of the search committee, who assured him the search was aboveboard. Hanlon said he and then-President Mary Sue Coleman, who was copied on Hanlon's email, supported the committee and its work.

The Free Press was unable to obtain a copy of those earlier emails, but two sources who were aware of the contents said they contained warnings that Hanlon needed to look into Philbert's behavior. Multiple sources said Hanlon was also told in person by at least one person that there existed a previous complaint against Philbert.

Hanlon is now president of Dartmouth College. A spokeswoman for the college declined to comment or make Hanlon available for an interview and referred a Free Press reporter to the media relations team at U-M.

It is unknown whether Hanlon did any investigation or talked to Philbert about the issue.

Philbert was dean at the School of Public Health until current U-M President Mark Schlissel named him provost in September 2017. It's unknown whether Schlissel knew about any of the previous complaints.

Campus climate

On a cold recent Saturday while snowflakes fell, 10 days after Philbert's leave was announced, about 20 people gathered at the heart of campus to speak out against Philbert and U-M's handling of complaints against both students and employees.

Emma Sandberg — a second-year U-M student and founder of Roe v. Rape, a local organization to help sexual assault survivors get involved in activism — led the charge for the group. The protest was organized by Sandberg and her organization in collaboration with Take Back the Night Ann Arbor.

"We learned that not only does this administration neglect the issue, but those in power actually contribute to the issue. You have to ask, what damage was Martin Philbert able to do by overseeing the office handling sexual misconduct complaints?" Sandberg said in her speech. "Why was a person like Philbert promoted to such a powerful and important position as the provost?"

Sandberg called on the university to revise its current procedures to better protect and address the needs of survivors.

"We are here today because vulnerable members of this community are given an unfair choice — file a complaint and be subjected to further abuse and traumatization or stay silent," Sandberg said to the crowd. "We are here today because the university administration has shown that they don't care that hundreds of students identify as survivors before ever coming on this campus and that thousands more identify as survivors before they graduate."

Those at the protest echoed complaints similar to those of protesters at U-M for several years — that the university doesn't do a good job handling complaints and doesn't protect sexual assault survivors.

They also want to see change in a policy that requires some sort of cross-examination of those making allegations in sexual assault cases. That policy was put in place because of a court ruling in a lawsuit involving the university. The court mandated those hearings be held, although left open the method universities could use to run them.

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"It should not be necessary for survivors to go around explaining to administrators why we have the belief that no survivor should be cross-examined by their perpetrator," Sandberg said. "Survivors on this campus are tired of speaking, but not being listened to."

The group also outlined demands, including changes to procedure and implementation of sexual misconduct policy, as well as provisions for more funding and freedom for the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAPAC). Until the demands are met, Sandberg called for a boycott against the university via social media, asking people not to donate to the university, buy branded apparel or buy sports tickets.

"If students are not happy with something, those are the voices that matter. The university is supposed to be here for the students," Sandberg said. "I feel like a lot of the decisions that they've been making show that they don't always make choices in the best interests of students."

Free Press reporter Meredith Spelbring contributed to this report.

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8815 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj