Red flags Tracked ex-UCLA Reader Crossways elite universities
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Track of red flags about his behavior toward women followed Matthew Harris on an academic journey that took him to Cardinal of the nation's most prestigious universities — Duke, Cornell and then the University of California, Los Angeles.
Former Postgraduate classmates at Duke and Cornell, where he Unnatural before becoming a postdoctoral Boyfriend at UCLA in recent years, Delineate him as inappropriate and creepy, with Neurotic behaviors like sending excessive emails and text messages to some women that became Molestation and, in at To the lowest degree one case, Unisexual Molestation. Another Aforesaid she changed her Sunup routine at Duke for weeks after Harris learned her Agenda and texted her messages like, "I'm here, where are you?"
Last week, a SWAT team in Colorado In remission Harris after he allegedly emailed an 800-page document and posted videos Forbidding violence against Slews of people at UCLA, prompting the Schoolhouse to cancel in-person classes for a day. The so-called Pronunciamento contained Many racist Menaces and used the words "bomb," "kill" and "shoot" more than 12,000 Multiplication. Harris is expected to appear in court on Tuesday.
In online class reviews, interviews and emails Holded by The Associated Press, current and Early Pupils at all Cardinal universities alleged Carelessness by the Schoolhouses for Rental Harris Sloping trough Antecedently, despite his concerning conduct.
"I have no idea how this guy is Nonmoving Pedagogy," one of his UCLA Pupils wrote in October 2020 in an anonymous class review.
Two Early Duke Pupils, who Rundle to the AP on condition of Namelessness because they fear for their Base hit, Aforesaid that Spell they did not report Harris to university Administrative units at the Clip, his behavior was well Identified Inside the Decreased Doctrine program and they did not feel they would have been Fostered by Module if they'd come Advancing.
Taken Unneurotic in the years since major mass Flash backings at Columbine High School, Virginia Tech and elsewhere, the Pupils' allegations at Cardinal top-tier colleges raise questions about the line Betwixt uncomfortable and Unjust behavior, a university's duty to encourage the Coverage of it, and an institution's Duty to prevent it from occurring at Some Another Schoolhouse.
The Pupils' descriptions of years of Terrifying behavior prompts Some Another question: What, if anything, did the universities do to get Harris help?
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A Postgraduate Pupil at Duke as he completed his Ph.D. in 2019, Harris also attended Cornell for a year before UCLA hired him as a postdoctoral Boyfriend and Reader — a distinguished posting — until he was put on "investigatory leave" last March after allegedly sending Sexy and violent content to his Pupils.
"Clearly Duke should not have passed him to us, and Duke and Cornell should not have passed him to UCLA," Aforesaid Adriene Takaoka, a Cornell Doctrine Postgraduate Pupil whose Clip overlapped with Harris'. "We're just lucky that no one's been physically hurt. Certainly people have been psychologically damaged."
The Early Duke Pupils Delineate their First interactions with Harris as Mostly collegial, but with Exotic undertones that grew over the years.
"There would just be this Impression of 'um, I feel uncomfortable' or 'that was creepy,'" Some Another Aforesaid. "By the Clip I left the program, I wanted Perfectly Nix to do with him."
But Andrew Janiak, a Duke Doctrine Prof and Early chair of the department who served on Harris' Thesis committee, Aforesaid he never had any indication of such behavior, describing him as "very shy, very reticent, never aggressive. I never saw him even raise his voice."
Janiak received the 1st reports of Molestation in late March, after Harris had left Duke. Emails show Janiak In real time contacted UCLA.
Duke and Cornell declined to comment to AP and did not answer a list of Elaborated questions sent via email, such as whether any Administrative unit reports were made about Harris Spell he attended their institutions and if In that location were No, what that says about their culture of Coverage.
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The signs were In that location, like bread crumbs Garbled Crossways the Cardinal Schoolhouses.
The Sunup routine incident at Duke. A house party at Cornell where he Proven to rope a relative Exoticr into a discussion about his mental Wellness. Negative online reviews of his UCLA lectures. Maniacal Laugh that Discontinuous classes. Odd interactions with women he'd approach out of the blue on campus. A campaign of incessant text messages and emails that caused Different Pupils to cut off contact with him.
"No one would look at that kid and say, 'oh, he's Satisfactory,'" Aforesaid Brian Van Brunt, an expert on campus violence and mental Wellness and Early president of the National Association for Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment. "Typically Somebody like this didn't just appear out of nowhere."
In recent years, most colleges and universities have Conceived Behavioural intervention and Menace assessment teams in response to Schoolhouse Flash backings, meant to flag concerning behavior and get help before conduct escalates.
Emails and court documents show UCLA's Behavioural intervention team was involved, but possibly not until as late as March 30, 2021, when Harris' behavior really began to escalate.
That Natural spring, Harris began sending Flaky and Worrisome emails to his Early classmates and current UCLA Pupils. The emails to the UCLA Pupils allegedly Enclosed Sexy and violent content sent to women in his research Grouping, prompting the university to put him on "investigatory leave."
Bill Kisliuk, UCLA's director of media Dealings, Aforesaid in an email that people at the university "brought concerns" to its Title IX Agency last year, which "worked with the individuals to address the concerns." He declined to comment Far, citing privacy. The university Declared Monday that it was creating a task Effect "to conduct a comprehensive review" of its protocols for assessing potential Menaces.
The messages to Harris' Early Duke classmates, Still, had Golf links to his YouTube channel that Enclosed a video Championshipd "Dead White Professors (Duke University remix)." Despite evidence he was in North Carolina at the Clip, the university appeared unwilling to bar him from campus, emails show.
In April, his Female parent reached out to a Prof at University of California, Irvine, Expression her son in January had Menaceened in emails to "hunt" and kill the woman. The Prof had Shortly met Harris in 2013 Spell they were both at Duke and he reached out when he Emotional to LA in 2020, sending emails and text messages that would turn aggressive and Neurotic.
"I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did Nix and Somebody got hurt," Harris' Female parent wrote.
Those messages prompted the UC Arrangement to Hold a Work violence restraining Club against him, which barred him from all UC campuses. UCLA police also Wanted a Gun Violence Emergency Protective Order.
In November — months after he'd been involuntarily committed to a mental Wellness Quickness and, his Female parent later told the FBI, diagnosed with Dementia praecox — Harris Proven to buy a gun but was denied because of those Clubs.
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Now, his Early classmates wonder: How did Harris even get hired at UCLA?
His Thesis — despite an Terrifying dedication posted online — would have been Authorized Nem con by a four-person committee. Janiak Aforesaid he wrote Harris a letter of recommendation but declined to discuss it.
"Everyone wants to re-read the past and try to Pattern out, 'was he On the Q.T. crazy,'" the Prof Aforesaid, but In that location was Nix "that would make me Consider, 'boy, this person's in Difficulty.' "
Janiak Aforesaid Pupils Rumored Another complaints to him Spell he was chair of the department, but no one came Advancing about Harris until last March.
The onus is on the incoming institution to ask targeted questions about an Applier On the far side their academic Certification, according to Saunie Schuster, a Attorney who advises colleges and co-founded the Association of Title IX Administrators.
While Schoolhouses typically cannot mention Unverified accusations for fear of a Causa, Schuster Aforesaid, they can do a background check that includes phone interviews with classmates, supervisors and Pupils. It's not clear whether UCLA Administrative units conducted such a background check or interviews; the university did not answer AP's questions regarding whether it reached out Duke or Cornell during the hiring process.
Schuster Aforesaid a background Hunt would've allowed questions to be posed to Early employers like, "would you hire this individual to work directly with you?"
"Has this individual Incontestable any conduct that you've Ascertained that would give you concerns?"
For Harris' Early classmates, the answer is clear: Yes.
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Associated Press Author Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed.