Petition to Princeton University administration regarding the Verdú sexual harassment case

Dear President Eisgruber, Dean Kulkarni, Dean Crittenden, Dean Carter, and Chairwoman Gmachl:

As proud students, alumni, faculty and staff of Princeton University, we the undersigned write to express our deep concerns regarding the University’s handling of the recent sexual harassment case against electrical engineering professor Sergio Verdú. We ask that the University elevate its disciplinary actions against Professor Verdú and firmly establish that sexual harassment will not be tolerated in our community. 

It is our understanding that while Professor Verdú  was found unequivocally to be in violation of Princeton University’s policy on Sex Discrimination and Sexual Misconduct, he has remained a salaried employee of the University, maintaining his prestigious position as Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering and continuing in his teaching and research advising roles without interruption. 

Given the nature of the sexual harassment for which Professor Verdú was found responsible, his flagrant abuse of power, and the irreparable emotional and professional damage he has inflicted upon his student, we find the punishment determined by the University in his case to be grossly inadequate, and the process by which this punishment was determined to be intentionally opaque. 

Our peer institutions have taken two approaches to penalizing faculty found guilty of sexual misconduct. In some cases, faculty members have been punished severely with suspension or termination — significantly, one of these instances corresponds to the suspension of a Princeton faculty member in 1989. In other cases, faculty members — more accurately described as sex offenders — are gently reprimanded and allowed to continue on in their esteemed positions. It is clear that in this case, Princeton has chosen the latter path. We trust our alma mater to act in accordance with the highest ethical standards and to unwaveringly support and defend survivors of sexual misconduct. The University’s decision in Professor Verdú’s case, combined with the knowledge that as recently as 2014, the U.S. Department of Education concluded that Princeton “failed to provide a[n]...equitable response to complaints of sexual harassment,” profoundly erodes this trust. 

In addition to reevaluation of the penalties in Professor Verdú’s misconduct case, increased transparency regarding the Title IX disciplinary process is essential to restoring confidence in the University’s handling of sexual misconduct cases. In particular, we note that Title IX infractions committed by faculty members are particularly egregious, as the influence that faculty wield over students and their future careers — particularly students within their own departments — further discourages reporting of violations, and makes sexual advances more challenging to combat. Disciplinary actions resulting from Title IX investigations must account for this extreme power imbalance. 

There has never been a more important time for Princeton to categorically condemn sexual harassment and abuse, particularly when these acts are committed by exceptionally powerful men. We strongly urge you to reconsider the University’s decision in this matter, and to deliver a punishment that is proportionate to the damage Professor Verdú’s victim has endured. 

This is an active petition. Princeton affiliates, please sign the online petition. As of the time of publishing, there are over 750 signees.  

Respectfully, 

Yasin Kaya 2019

Sara Kacmoli 2022

Abhi Raj 2020

Yan Li 2016

Munji Choi 2020

J. Alexander Bae 2020

Alexandra Werth 2019

Michelle Zhang 2021

Bolong (Harvey) Cheng GS '17

Daniel Jiang 2016

Alice Yoon 2020

Heejae Jang 2017

Jeewon Yoo 2022

Stephan Kim 2022

Yeon Soon Shin 2019

YunHui Lisa Lin 2018

Ju Young Lee 2019

Yasmin Afsar 2017

Paul Jackson 2021 (G3)

Jimin Hong 2016

Yoolim Lee 2017

Laura Leal 2020

DoWon Kim 2019

Mei Chai Zheng GS 2017

Chi Suk Kang 2017

Ki-Soon Choi 2016

Maximilian Goer 2015

Ivy Fortmeyer *16

jonathan choi 2017

Genevieve Plant *16

Sonika Johri 2014

Angela Jiang 2013

Sara Chuang 2018

Wentao Fan 2021

A former graduate student 2014

Nana Park 2018

Ryan O’Shea 2016

Caitlin Charos 2019

Ching-Yu Chen 2018

Sunil Pandey 2017

Yuzhen Yan 2018

Huilian Qiu 2017

Ye Yu 2019

Lu Yang 2019

Zhen Liu 2018

Tracy Tsai 2012

Gyoonho 2024

Kairui Feng 2022

Mengya hu 2020

Ding Huang 2020

Gerasimos Angelatos 2020, ELE PhD

Saeed-Uz-Zaman Khan 2021

Qi Li 2016

Yonglong Xie 2019

Xiaowen Chen GS 2020

Megan Dare 2016

Sunha Ahn 2016

Jingyu Luo 2019

Weitao Shuai 2020

Sherry Wu 2019

Ming 2021

Peiqi Wang 2018

Robin Gomila 2020

Yuejie Chi 2012

Elizabeth Cai 2013

Qihong Lu 2021

Wenyan Gong 2020

Nechumi Yaffe 2019

Hannah Mimi Park 2015

Jordan Starck 2021

Yang Li 2023

Cheyenne Teng 2019

Taek Yoon Lee 2018

Anna Kolstad 2018 BSE ELE

Ziwei Zhu 2018

Ziming Ji 2021

Yuzhou Bai 2021

Boya Wen 2021

Natalia Chen 2018

Zhengjie Li 2017

Yuqian Wang 2023

Hyejin Jang 2019

Yutong Li 2024

Xiaofang Yang 2021

SeungYeon Kang 2019

Stanford Liu 2019

Yun Zhang 2012

Arianna Sherman 2020

Jinn Park 2021

Kwangdong Roh 2018

Maddie Lu 2013

Renato Pagliara 2019

Lena Ji 2021

Emily Wei-Hsin Sun 2021

Grace Koh 2019

Qizhao Weng 2013

Joyce Zhan 2017

Wonjae Lee 2021

Meredith Wilf *2014

Adi 2019

Yingxian Yu 2020

pingping 2021

Amn Nasir 2019

Claire Lee 2019

Sunny 2018

Hanna Golab 2017

DongWon Oh 2018

Zidong Zhao 2021

Lucia Mocz 2018

Yang Shao 2020

Alexey Lavrov 2020

Peter Park 2017

Hwon Kim 2020

John Klopfer 2017

Donghoon Kim 2021

Jooeun Kang 2014

Irving Dai 2019

Christopher Phenicie 2022

Hejia Zhang 2019

Hugh Wilson 2020

Yaosheng Fu 2017

Shuk Ying Chan 2020

Zihuai Zhang 2022

Jin-Sung Kim 2018

Annie Chen 2018

Eric Blow 2020

Sheng Yang 2017

Joe Durante 2020

Yeohee Im 2020

Wai Keung Leung 2018

Cindy Liu 2018

Mari Jarris 2021

Hooman Mohajeri 2020

Fermi Ma 2020

Surin Ahn 2018

Siyu Yang 2016

Ting-Jung Chang 2021

Ariel Gewirtz 2020

Huai-An Chin 2016

Xiaohan Du 2022

Soyoon Kim 2019

Joonhyun La 2019

Sara Fridovich-Keil 2018

Eric Zhang 2016

Emre Turkoz 2019

Nikita 2022

Jin Kang 2016

Wonjae Shin 2018

Lili Cai 2019

Bruce Perry 2019

Mohammad Shahrad 2019

Nivedita Rangarajan 2021

Minsung Kim 2023

Ziquan Zhuang 2019

Pranav Mundada 2021

Jordan Dull 2021

Meng Ma 2020

anqi wu 2019

Lingfu Zhang 2022

Steve Choi 2018

Deepen Garg 2021

Bianca Dumitrascu 2018

Xiaotian Liang 2016

Chian Der Liang 1986

Kengran Yang 2019

Shoham Bhadra 2015

Genna Gliner 2018

Alexander Burky 2021

Mattias Fitzpatrick 2019

Akash Sengupta 2019

Cissy Chen 2016

Matthew de Courcy-Ireland 2018

Ang Li 2021

Jessica Schwab 2018

Joanna Wang 2016

Ethan Chen Campbell 2016

Melina Acevedo 2016

Pranav Gokhale 2015

Mitchell Nahmias 2017

Angela Wang 2019

Jessica Vo 2015

Mika Bray 2016

Jeongseok Lee 2019

Linda Li 2013

Kyung Min Lee 2019

Bolton Howes 2022

Ha-Kyung Kwon 2013

Joseph Scherrer 2016

Remi Yamazaki 2014

Soo Yeon Jung 2018

Yao Lai 2018

Yash Shah 2019

Yixin Sun 2019

Daniela Gandorfer 2019

Dong Hoon Nam 2021

Omer Malik 2017

Akshay Yelleshpur 2020

Keisuke Ishihara 2010

Katherine Fitch 2016

Ji Hyun Bak 2016

Andrew Shu *2014

Sravya Jangareddy 2020

Girija Sahasrabudhe Graduated in 2016

Leo Choi 2019

Yura Oh 2022

Asavari S 2016

Niranjani Prasad 2020

Audrey Chebet 2018

Evelyn Ding 2017

Abdullah Guler 2018

Matthew Chang 2017

Cynthia Andrianjatovo 2016

Nicole Taylor 2019

Prof. Tullis C. Onstott 1981

Ping Lu 2017

James Endres 2018

Mariah Krimchansky 2016

Junuk Lee 2019

Boyu Wang 2022

Aaron Match 2020

Abigail Hoskin 2020

Jason C. Chin 2021

Matthew Tauzer 2018

Riley Skeen-Gaar 2020

Na Yeon Kim 2020

Adam Cellon 2017

Koushiki Bose 2018

Thomas Hodson 2020

Rui Wang 2021

Jake Herb 2017

Nicole González 2016

Luke Pfleger 2017

Zirui Liu 2021

Karalyn Enz 2022

Ting-Hsuan Chen 2018

Prashanth Venkataram 2019

Kavinayan Sivakumar 2018

Lauren Feldman 2021

Anjali Premkumar 2023

Jung Pyo Hong 2020

Mark Thornton 2011

Anna Trugman 2017

Emma Kast 2019

Joel Simon 2019

Arjun Nitin Bhagoji 2020

Jessica Sarriot 2018

Daniel Stanley 2018

Hamidreza Omidvar 2019

Cong Ma 2020

Samuel Miller 2018

Leah Langer 2019

Alessandra Brown 2018

Nicholas Wu 2018

Vishan Nigam 2018

Mina Tahmasbi Arashloo 2019

corry short 2019

Robert MacDavid 2020

Andrew Huang 2018

Katherine Fleming 2019

Jamal Williams 2021

Jamie O'Leary 2019

Alyssa Finfer 2019

Xinwei Yu G2

Mengjie Wang 2011

Dennis Guo 2018

Mai Nguyen 2019

Frances Ling 2019

Jorge Nathan Matias Post-doc, Psychology,

Liz Davison 2019

Sebi Devlin-Foltz 2018

Jonathan Balkind *19

Samuel Cho 2021

Seleeke Flingai 2018

Levent E Aygun 2019

Alexander Berg 2019

Gregory Gundersen 2021

Yifeng Chen 2019

Tri Nguyen 2018

Rachel L. Harris 2019

Michael McKeown 2018

David C. Logan 2022

Siyang han 2018

Brandy Briones 2019

Swetha Balachandran 2018

Carlee Joe-Wong 2011 (AB) and

Jay Kim 2018

Yi Ni 2007

Laura Ana Bustamante 2020

Daniel Spruill 2018

Jongsoo Yoo 2013

Fida Newaj 2018

Haeley Ahn 2021

Elaine Golden 2018

Hyeju Lee 2021

Alexander Tarr 2018

Leslie Akexis 2016

Joy Liu 2021

Caroline Trippel 2019

Joel Martinez 2020

Jennifer Kasbohm *2018

Bin Guo 2015

Li-Fang Cheng 2018

Ryan Ly GS

Ana Gantman 2018

Sondre Ulvund Solstad 2019

Aaron Kurosu 2019

Anna Blyth 2018

Lila Rodgers 2022

Mary Naydan 2021

Viola Mocz 2018

Aashu Jha 2022

Elisabeth Juechser 2020

Michael Soskind 2022

Andrew Kim 2018

Daniel Vitek 2019

Alexander Tait 2018

Jack Wilson 2022

Tae Jun Ham 2018

Akil Word-Daniels 2018

Jyotesh Singh 2021

Brendon 2017

Pengning Chao 2022

Kyle Castoria 2022

Ellie Maag 2019

Akshay Krishna 2020

Loan T. Le ‘07 &

Isabella Mangan 2019

Audrey Shih 2020

Chase Perlen 2017

Andrei Vrajitoarea 2020

Jen-Tang Lu 2017

Hsuan-Tung Peng 2021

Jasmine Lin 2019

Abraham Asfaw 2018-2019

Andrew Shapiro 2021

Chinmay Khandekar May 2018

Quinn M. Albaugh 2019

Mochi Liu 2019

Kevin Villegas 2021

Sarah Reibstein 2020

James Mao 2021

Hrishikesh Somayaji 2021

Basil Smitham 2021

Emile Oshima 2017

Oluseyi Fasoranti 2018

Ke-Chih Lin 2019

Jonathan Spencer 2020

Bernat Guillen Pegueroles 2019

Arpit Gupta 2018

Allie Wu 2016

Bhavin Shastri 2011

Prakhar Kumar 2021

Beimnet Shitaye 2020

Domenica Massamby 2021

Thomas Ferreira de Lima 2019

Marie Siliciano 2017

Mouktik Raha 2020

Cassidy Yang 2022

Yushan Liu 2019

Lucia Rafanelli 2018

Wanru Xiong 2021

Henry Ando 2020

Arvind P. Ravikumar 2015

Adrianna Loback 2017

Karan Singh 2020?

Xin Rong Chua 2019

Roseanne Lais 2017

Greg Siano 2015

Jean Juang 2016

Winston Chou 2019

Darius Avens 2018

Mohan Swaminathan 2021

Corey Lau 2021

Sorawis Sangtawesin 2016

Eunah Han 2022

Julian HK 2014

In-Jee Jeong 2017

Sreela Kodali 2018

Christine Blumauer 2018

Bo-Yuan 2020

Daniel M. Choi 2017

Can Wu 2019

Ritika Goel 2015

Angela Radulescu 2019

Hyewon Kim 2017

Amy Paeth, Ph.D., ‘08 2008

Eun Choi 2015

Achie Gebre 2020

Leonidas Tolias 2016

Monica Lu 2016

Stacey Park 2017

Jonghun Kam 2015

Stephanie Chan 2016

Sarah Trebat-Leder 2013

Brooke N. Macnamara 2014

Yantao Wu 2020

Linfeng Zhang 2020

Michala Riis-Vestergaard 2020

Ben Koger 2016

Hannah Smith 2021

Aneesh Rai 2017

Abyssinia Lissanu 2021

Durva Trivedi 2017

Victor Charpentier 2019

Julia Reed 2017

Xin Lin 2018

Jenny Tang 2016

Katherine Hartl 2016

Joanna Hecht *15

Albert Pak 2018

Lydia Liu 2017

Elias Kleinbock 2020

Annie Tao 2016

Nicholas Roy 2020

Danielle Santiago Ramos 2018

Sarah DuBrow postdoc of 2

Andrew Ma 2019

Bhaskar Roberts 2019

Jason Shi 2019

Lois Dzebissov 2019

Jean Lee 2019

Matthew Nicholas 2019

Lauren '20 2020

Grace Rehaut 2018

Aparna Raghu 2018

Yowan Ramchoreeter 2019

Nankee Kumar 2020

Izzy Grabski 2018

David Friedman 2020

Sergio Martinez 2021

Chris Umanzor 2019

Andrew Ma 2019

Catherine Sharp 2018

Fatih Kaleoglu 2020

Sandra Carpenter 2018

Alia Wood 2020

Samuel Niu 2019

Dan Sturm 2019

Alicia Lai 2018

Audrey Davis 2020

Edward Zhang 2019

Millie Goldrup 2020

Rae Perez 2019

Connie Zhu 2019

Margaret Li 2019

David Wu 2019

Jessica Zhou 2019

Laura Kirkland 2020

Jessica Ji 2018

Sofia Dimitriadoy 2020

Rebecca Schnell 2018

Sum Ting Wong 2020

Luke Shaw 2019

Phoebe Rogers 2019

Cody Kohn 2019

Di Qi 2018

Shelley Zhao 2018

Isabella Bosetti 2017

Joao Pedro Homem 2019

Diego Negron-Reichard 2018

Manisha Kapasiawala 2019

Aliya Somani 2020

Pooja Patel 2018

Siddarth Anand 2019

Leopoldo Solis 2021

Yash Patel 2018

Nergis Khan 2019

Sofi Inglessis 2018

Caroline de Brito Gottlieb 2019

Aslesha Parchure 2020

Alison Duerwald 2019

Zaza Asatiani 2021

Pranav Rekapalli 2020

Isabelle Kuziel 2021

Esther Choi 2021

Jennifer Hsia 2021

Katherine Leung 2020

Billie Runions 2020

Risa Gelles-Watnick 2021

Tess Jacobson 2019

Riley Simmons-Edler 2020

Saisha Agrawal 2021

Sara Anjum 2019

Brillian Bao 2020

Natalie Diaz 2019

Jason Fu 2019

Jose M Rico 2018

Reilly Bova 2020

Jonah Herzog-Arbeitman 2019

Eric Smith 2015

Jamie Goodwin 2021

Curtis Leonard 2020

Michelle Min 2020

Nicolas Schuck 2017

Crystal Liu 2019

Raheem Barnett 2018

Mileny Torres 2019

Anna Qin 2021

Greta Miller 2019

Vibhaalakshmi Sivaraman 2017

Zoe Zeitler 2020

Julianna Wright 2017

Hang Huynh 2018

Zachariah DeGiulio 2018

Boriana Gjura 2018

William Hinthorn 2018

Rasheeda Saka 2020

Pritha Ogden 2013

Sylvie Thode 2020

Clare Jung Yoon Choi 2019

Amma Prempeh 2019

Nathan Finkle 2021

Pranaya Anshu 2019

Vivek Bagaria 2020

Diana Chao 2021

Valerie Wilson 2018

Njuguna Thande 2019

Ben Hutchinson n/a

Lian Zhu 2018

Helena Van Brande 2019

Benjamin Huang 2020

Carolyn Chen 2016

Jonathan Lu 2018

Matthew Matl 2016

Matt Hetrick 2020

Richard Du 2019

Ananya Joshi 2019

Angela Yang 2021

Catherine Saterson 2018

Willem Bradford 2019

Ginevra Guzzi 2017

Anjani Patel NA

Carly Millenson 2018

Max Kim 2021

Alison Root 2022

Julia Casazza 2019

Elise Colter 2021

Uyen Nguyen 2021

Jennifer Gossels grad student

Gyujin Oh 2021

Lloyd Feng 2019

Hannah Chomiczewski 2020

Samvida S. Venkatesh 2019

Yinzhi Dong 2021

Maria E. Restrepo 2021

Jeremy Du 2020

Karen Wu 2020

Greg Darnell 2018

Ian Iverson 2018

Agisae Kim 2015

Madeleine Cheyette 2019

Jessica Gaytan 2021

Masha Miura 2021

Sherry Bai 2019

Mingyu Song 2021

Brigitte Lamarche 2018

Cecilia Hsu 2020

Anna Yang 2021

Hyunsung Yun 2021

Frances Steere 2018

Christopher Popham 2021

Brandon Dunlevy 2021

Natalie Collina 2019

Sophie Troyka 2019

Thea Zalabak 2021

Ajay Penmatcha 2019

Emily Ho 2018

Yinan Zheng 2019

Linda Song 2019

Cassie Crifase 2017

Sarah H Cho 2018

Lucy Wang 2021

Noelle Goudy 2021

Joanne Lee 2021

Jonathan Baron 2018

Hemani Kalucha 2019

Melanie Porras 2021

Myesha Jemison 2018

Daniela Coronado 2019

Sahand Keshavarz Rahbar 2017

Andrew Ng 2018

Adam Chang 2020

Angelika Morris 2021

Shirley Klimkiewicz 2020

William Grear 2020

Stephanie Kim 2015

Zoheb Hossain 2019

María José Solórzano 2020

Heide Baron 2020

Chris Kellogg-Peeler 2019

Daniel Qian 2019

Alexander Chen 2021

Mihiro Nomura 2019

Monique Claiborne 2017

Emre Cakir 2021

Kathy Fan 2019

Sharon Washio 2020

Dominic Saunders 2020

Alexandra Levinger 2020

Julia Song 2018

Eunice Kim 2020

Hang Deng 2015

Rebecca Ngu 2020

Aamir Zainulabadeen 2018

Jake Adkins 2019

Tori gorton 2021

David Corwin 2013

Guillermo Martínez Cabalga 2017

James Allred 2021

Annette Carroll 2021

Matt Błażejewski 2017

Joy Chen 2018

Mariah Wilson 2018

Elizabeth Sell 2017

Trina Swanson 2020

Kyle Duffey 2019

Shelby Edmondson 2018

John Ennis 2019

Changyan Wang 2019

Kate Reed 2019

Eos Chase 2018

Juliana Jiranek 2020

Robert Decker G4

Krystal Veras 2020

Isabel Di Rosa 2017

Amber Lin 2019

Kate Vlach 2019

Jane Sul 2020

Katie Donnelly 2021

Paulina Pineda Severiano 2023

Sophie Cantine 2021

Heath Pearson 2018

Katya Chegaeva 2019

Aidan O’Donnell 2020

Clarice Robenalt 2014

Elizaveta Mankovskaya 2019

Diba Shokri 2020

Kimia Shahi 2020

Ricardo de los Reyes 2017

Joshua Burd 2017

Emilce Santana 2019

Sarah Henderson 2020

Tashi Treadway 2019

Leanora Berthiaume 2021

La Lee Lo 2018

Leonardo Stedile 2024

Caroline Buck 2021

Charles A Kollmer 2020

Sage Palmedo 2019

Yulissa Cantero 2020

Olivia Hadley 2021

Annabelle Tseng 2019

Katie Lim 2018

Leon Wang 2021

Kiara Gilbert 2021

Adriana Rubertone 2018

Minjae Kim 2021

Mairead Horton 2017

Francisca Weirich-Freiberg 2021

Leora Haber 2016

Winny Myat 2018

Parker Kushima 2019

Amir Momen-Roknabadi ‘16

Abbie Minard 2020

Wendy 2019

Thomas Pumir 2019

Katelyn Neese 2017

Chloe Song 2017

Kathryn Leung 2021

Kieran Underwood 2020

Sharon Musa 2020

Victoria Lin 2016

Veronica Carrasco 2020

Tugce Tunalilar 2015 Alumni

Grace Guan 2020

Yannis Karakozis 2019

Artemis Eyster 2019

Samuel Vilchez Santiago 2019

Carly Maitlin 2019

Julia Ruddy 2019

Daphne Mandell 2019

Annie Klosowicz 2019

Wei Peng 2016

Joe Tylka 2018

Seth Lovelace 2020

Lucy Williamson 2019

Christina Karas 2019

Amanda Eisenhour 2021

Maximo De La Cruz 2020

Juliette Hackett 2017

Hans Hanley 2018

Grace Sommers 2020

Fang Zhao Postdoc

Mikaylah Ladue 2020

Edward Young 2018

Brian Chen 2016

Anthony Chen 2020

Jordan Fix 2018

Aditya Trivedi 2016

Swetha Doppalapudi 2016

Ebony Slaughter-Johnson 2015

Stephen Cognetta 2015

Hansen Qian 2016

Elizabeth Yang 2016

Yogesh Goyal 2017

Nina Rouhani 2019

Susan Wang 2018

Candelaria Duran 2018

Rishi Narang 2015

Quinn Gibson 2016

Curtis Belmonte 2016

Molly Stoneman 2016

Richard Anderson 2018

Corwin Shiu 2022

Katherine Stiefel 2020

Megan Eardley 2019

Jaeho Hwang 2012

Alyse Egner 2013

Victoria Lee 2016

Matthew Yuan 2021

Akshaya Uttamadoss 2015

Sameer Wagh 2019

José Simões Bravo Ferreira 2018

Ryan Amos 2022

Shreyas Lakhtakia 2016

Selden N/A

Burcin Cakir 2018

Shilpa N. Kobren 2018

Preeti Iyer 2020

Yann Koby 2019

Liam Kelly 2016

Divyarthi Mohan 2021

João M. Pereira 2019

Lauren Peterson 2020

Rishika Dewan 2016

Pranvera Kortoci 2019

Katie Kennedy 2018

Saeed Khan 2019

Hannah Wang 2021

Sidra Ahmad 2020

Suzie Herman 2021

Ida Momennejad Postdoc - 4

Isabel Ting 2021

Trevor Candido 2016

Jennifer Cho 2015

Sumegha Garg 2020

Patrick Rooney 2018

Theo Keeley-LeClaire 2018

Emilie Szemraj 2020

Jennifer Willemsen 2020

Ryan Born 2019

Hao Tang 2nd

Patrick Signoret 2019