Faced with Protest, NU Prof Cancels Class

The Northwestern University philosophy professor at the heart of a sexual harassment case canceled his class Tuesday as students were preparing to stage a protest.

Peter Ludlow and the university are being sued by the student, now a junior, who says Ludlow got her drunk and then kissed, groped and slept in his bed with her two years ago when she was 19. The school said in court papers that it determined that Ludlow engaged in “inappropriate sexual advances” and said he has been disciplined but not terminated. Ludlow has said via his attorney that the student propositioned him.

A Facebook event was created urging students to sit in on Ludlow’s 12:30 p.m. Tuesday class and then walk out en masse at 1 p.m. People were encouraged to bring signs.

“We protest the University's decision to continue to employ Ludlow and allow him to teach classes, despite University investigations finding that he violated their sexual harassment policy by sexually harassing an undergraduate student.”

Someone posted a cancelation notice that Ludlow sent to students, time stamped 6:45 a.m. He told students to keep working on their assignments.

Once the class was canceled, the protesting students decided to meet anyway to plan next steps. Pictures on the Facebook page show a large crowd gathered both inside and outside.

Alan Cubbage, vice president for university relations, addressed the group outside, which was videotaped and posted to the Facebook page.

“The university does care and is committed to these concerns you are raising,” he told the crowd. He said the dean is willing to meet with a smaller group of students, but didn’t think it would be productive to meet with a large crowd in front of the media.

For more Evanston news, sign up for our newsletter, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.