Geoff Marcy has resigned from his tenured position as astronomy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, the school has confirmed.

The announcement comes in the wake of a BuzzFeed News story that revealed a university investigation finding that Marcy had violated Berkeley's sexual harassment policies in several cases between 2001 and 2010.

More than 2,500 academics have signed an online petition to "support the people who were targets of Geoff Marcy's inappropriate behavior and those who have spoken publicly about it." Late on Monday, dozens of Marcy's colleagues published statements calling for him to leave.

"It's a relief to know that Geoff Marcy will no longer have access to UC Berkeley students," Jessica Kirkpatrick, one of the complainants in the sexual harassment investigation, told BuzzFeed News. "I hope the university is using this opportunity to re-evaluate it's process and policies so that vulnerable students have better protections in place to guard against sexual harassment from faculty moving forward."

Many academics are upset that Berkeley didn't take stronger disciplinary actions against Marcy after the investigation concluded that he had violated sexual harassment policies. He was given a "strict set of behavioral standards" to follow, and was told that if another complaint was filed, he could be sanctioned or fired.

In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, the university defended its decision not to fire Marcy, citing University of California policy.

"UC Berkeley's reaction to the finding that Professor Geoff Marcy violated the University's sexual harassment policies has been the subject of understandable criticism and anger," Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Claude Steele, said in the statement.

"We want to state unequivocally that Professor Marcy's conduct, as determined by the investigation, was contemptible and inexcusable."

Marcy has also resigned as principal investigator of the $100 million Breakthrough Listen project, a large scientific research program aimed at finding life beyond Earth.

Marcy has not responded to a request for comment.

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