Petition to Demand Repercussions for Failing to Report Sexual Abuse

On December 6th, 2022, the WashU student newspaper Student Life reported the story of Lila, an MD/PhD student at WashU who was sexually harassed and assaulted by a postdoctoral trainee in the lab of Dr. Jonathan Kipnis. (Alleged sexual misconduct and support system failures cause graduate student to drop her WU PhD degree) In the article, it was revealed that Lila reported the postdoc’s behavior to Dr. Kipnis, who subsequently did not report these allegations to Title IX, and also discouraged Lila from doing so. This behavior is in flagrant violation of his role as a mandatory reporter, per WashU’s Title IX policy. As concerned members of the WashU and broader academic communities, we are demanding that the University take action against Dr. Kipnis for his failure to report, and institute a clear policy on repercussions for failing to report allegations of this nature in the future. Specifically, we are demanding the following: That Dr. Kipnis be put on probation for a period of 2 years, during which time he shall not be allowed to take on new trainees, and that he shall be required to attend mandatory Title IX training; That a clear policy regarding minimum repercussions for failure to report be instituted: A first offense shall result in probation for 2 years and required Title IX training, and A second offense shall result in immediate termination; and That this policy shall be made publicly available and easily accessible. We affirm that it is the responsibility of PIs as mentors, heads of their labs, and representatives of the university to foster a safe, inclusive, and equitable learning environment, as required by law. In failing to fulfill his obligation as a mandatory reporter, Dr. Kipnis has abdicated this responsibility. In failing to hold Dr. Kipnis accountable, WashU has harmed its reputation as a world-class research institution where students of all backgrounds can receive a top-tier education. Signed, Jessica D'Addabbo, MD Student Arte, Undergraduate Student Jacob Amme, Graduate Student Rebecca Lin , MD Student Amina Mohamed , Concerned Citizen Paula Valiño, MSTP Student Cat Camacho, Postdoctoral Fellow Kevin Xu, Clinical Faculty Jonathan Moran, MSTP Student Jennifer Lawrence , Graduate Student Jesse Pak, MSTP Student Ami Chiu, WUSM MD/MPH alumni, current WUSM/BJH clinical staff Olivia Wood, Academic worker at another institution Simone Bernstein, Resident Physician Vasilis Hristidis, Clinical Staff Katie Ragsdale, Graduate Student Abid Bhat, Postdoctoral Fellow Alison Huckenpahler , Clinical Faculty Olivia Suozzo, MD Student Fernanda Martins Rodrigues , Graduate Student John Han, MD Student Shruti Naik, Principal Investigator Nora Malloy , MD Student Rachel Kratofil, Postdoctoral Fellow Suranjana Pal, Postdoctoral Fellow Megan Holt, MSTP Student Collin Nadarajah, MSTP Student Dylan Stahl, MSTP Student Anonymous, Undergraduate Student Sarah Coffey, MSTP Student Onyi Onyeador, MSTP Student Jessica Carpenter, MSTP Student Jamie Moffa, MSTP Student Shireen Roy, MD Student Zack Randall , MD Student Yamile Ferreira, Graduate Student Amartya Pradhan, Graduate Student Anonymous, Principal Investigator Emma Proctor, Graduate Student at another institution Sarah Sizer, Ph.D, Postdoctoral Fellow Fernanda oliveira, Concerned Citizen Lucy Simpson, MD Student Ashley Amukamara, MD Student Reyan Coskun, MSTP Student Waleed minzel, Concerned Citizen Kay Tye, None Denise Cai, Concerned Citizen Jasmin Revanna, Not affiliated with WashU Talmo Pereira , Not affiliated with WashU Aisha Lee, MSTP Student Bobbie Brown, Graduate Student Ilana Witten, Not affiliated with WashU M. Chen, Not affiliated with WashU Mahnaz Shekari , Not affiliated with WashU Katriel Cho, Not Affiliated with WashU Janine Kwapis, Concerned Citizen Abraham Ogbaslase , MSTP Student Lucas Faustino, PhD, Not affiliated with WashU Emma Goddery, Not affiliated with WashU Mauricio Oliveira, Not affiliated with WashU Lila Witt, Not affiliated with WashU Joycelyn Yiu, Not affiliated with WashU rg, Graduate Student Stella Francy, Not affiliated with WashU Jared Garland, MD Student Oscar Tejada, Not affiliated with WashU Mackenzie Lemieux, MD Student Matthew Rosene, Alumni Jackson Burton, MD Student Lisa Giocomo, Not affiliated with WashU Blake Seld, MSTP Student Jacob Schimelman , Not affiliated with WashU Anonymous, MD Student Frances Avila-Soto, MD Student Christina Su, MD Student Cassidy Tran, MD Student Evan Lee, MSTP Student Sabrina Goyal, MD Student Riley Mullins, MSTP Student Jenny Ji, MD Student Adelita Mendoza, Postdoctoral Fellow hao li, Not affiliated with WashU Kevin Yin, MSTP Student Natalie B, Clinical Staff Margaret Young, Not affiliated with WashU Every Rodriguez, Not affiliated with WashU Lilianne Barbar, MSTP Student James Hassell, Not affiliated with WashU Joey , Graduate Student David Chen, MD Student Roksana Azad , Not affiliated with WashU Amaan Charaniya, Graduate Student Lais Ferreira , Not affiliated with WashU Tony Yao, MSTP Student Madeleine Oudin, Not affiliated with WashU Joshua McPhie, MD Student Marie Claire Arrieta, Not affiliated with WashU Amanda McQuade, Not affiliated with WashU Peter Siyahhan Julnes, Clinical Staff Helen Wang, MSTP Student Caroline Arellano G , Concerned Citizen Madeline Nykamp, Resident physician Kevin Sanchez, Not affiliated with WashU Tania Lintz, Graduate Student Sarah Kaul, Undergraduate Student Tiffany Son, Resident Physician Anusha Sanka, MD Student Ariel B, MD Student Kelly-Anne Moffa, Concerned Citizen Amalia Luthens, Not affiliated with WashU Jennysue Kasiah, Graduate Student Adam Ramsaran, Graduate Student Melissa Vazquez, MD Student Andrea O’Riordan, MD Student Bowen Wang, Not affiliated with WashU Janis Mensah, Undergrad Alumni Caellagh Catley, MD Student Nicholas Leonard, MD Student Yes , Not affiliated with WashU Emma Fritsch, Not affiliated with WashU Mackenzie Gutierrez, Not affiliated with WashU YoonJeung Chang, Not affiliated with WashU Matheus Schossler, Graduate Student Rajiv Jain, Not affiliated with WashU Abdullah Abood, Concerned Citizen Augusto Medeiros da Rosa , Lecturer Kelly Li, Not affiliated with WashU Alexander Su, Not affiliated with WashU Laura Ibanez, Principal Investigator Clara Kao, MSTP Student Claudia Cantoni, Barrow Neurological Institute Shataakshi O’Neil, Not affiliated with WashU Jessica Biddinger , Not affiliated with WashU Carolynn Gonzalez , Research Technician Chelsea B, Not affiliated with WashU Amanda Briegel, Concerned Citizen Hannah Loo, Not affiliated with WashU Baodan Collins, Not affiliated with WashU Stephen Klusza , Not affiliated with WashU Aidan Flynn, Graduate Student Amanda Briegel, Concerned Citizen Elle Whitaker , Not affiliated with WashU Catherine Gonzalez, Concerned Citizen Marie Crane, Graduate Student Maggie Bui, MSTP Student Sabrina Wagoner , Lab manager Sema Quadir, PhD, Not affiliated with WashU Anita Salamon, Graduate Student Emily Mercer, Not affiliated with WashU Cara Nielson, Not affiliated with WashU Ethan Stancliffe, Graduate Student Shannon Chiu, MD Student Allie Byrne, Graduate Student Dylan Stahl, MSTP Student Gabriel Moon, Concerned Citizen Anonymous, Graduate Student Susan B, Not affiliated with WashU Alby Joseph, Not affiliated with WashU Kolin Clark, Graduate Student Anthea Weng, former staff Maria Elena De Obaldia, Not affiliated with WashU Kali Pruss, Postdoctoral Fellow Julie Alley, Concerned Citizen Alberto Granzotto , Not affiliated with WashU Chris Gillespie, Graduate Student Seo-Young Chu, Not affiliated with WashU Christine , Not affiliated with WashU Shataakshi O’Neil, Concerned Citizen Leonardo Lima dos Santos, Not affiliated with WashU Nick Rapoport, MD Student Amber Lee, Not affiliated with WashU Evan Pardue, Graduate Student Jazmine Mays, MD Student Elexa Rallos, Not affiliated with WashU Sade Clayton , Postdoctoral Fellow Raymond shim, Postdoctoral Fellow Hannah Knight, Concerned Citizen Claudia Kathe, Not affiliated with WashU Melissa Cooper, Not affiliated with WashU Cate Pena, Not affiliated with WashU Kelsey krus , MSTP Student Greg Bowman, Former faculty who left due to Wash U's failures to deal with harassment Rachel Paolini, Graduate Student Michael Rosario , MD Student Kelsey Hudson, Undergraduate Student Luorongxin Yuan, Graduate Student Steve Ramirez, Not affiliated with WashU Therese Cordero Dumit, Not affiliated with WashU Aravinda Ganapathy, MD Student Elizabeth Schmitz, MSTP Student Lucia Capano, Graduate Student Matt Joseph, MD Student Arya Ökten, Not affiliated with WashU Sahana S, Not affiliated with WashU Sarah Ohashi, Not affiliated with WashU Victor Putinier, Graduate Student Eric Conners, Graduate Student Calum Stephenson, Graduate Student Jackie Garcia, Graduate Student Chayla Vazquez, Graduate Student Christina Lee, Alumni Maren Loe, MSTP Student Jason Wever, Graduate Student Deanna Ren, Graduate Student Yolanda Campos Jurado, Postdoctoral Fellow vani kalyanaraman, Staff Scientist Katherine Basore, Staff Scientist Kelsey Arends, Graduate Student Abby Kimball , Graduate Student Katie Geist, Staff Catherine Dalton, Clinical Research Daphne Ko , Graduate Student Mary Miller, Concerned Citizen Whitney Payne, WUSM Staff Shaul Yahil , Graduate Student Sineadh Conway, Postdoctoral Fellow Sneha Chaturvedi, MSTP Student Jessica Higginbotham, Postdoctoral Fellow Khairunisa Ibrahim, Postdoctoral Fellow Kyle Parker, Instructor Anne Churchland, Principal Investigator Marlene Kanmogne, MSTP Student Sasha Tabachnikova, Not affiliated with WashU Angela Marsala, Research staff SM , Not affiliated with WashU Brian Ruyle, Postdoctoral Fellow Kimberly Neal, Graduate Student Jessica Tung, MSTP Student Luke Diorio-Toth, MSTP Student Skye Fishbein, Postdoctoral Fellow Skyler Hendrix , Graduate Student Anonymous, Graduate Student Jesus, Graduate Student Anissa, Graduate Student JooHee Choi, Graduate Student Erin Newcomer, Graduate Student Hung Vuong, Graduate Student Elsa Chanez, Graduate Student Shirley Cai, Alum Drew Schwartz, Principal Investigator Gregory Harrison, Graduate Student Casey Thompson, Graduate Student Sarah Romans, MD Student Emily Furtado, Research Technician Anonymous, Not affiliated with WashU Allison Brown, Law student Maritza Puray, Staff Scientist Julia Wang, Graduate Student Eric Kwon, Undergraduate Student Ty Easley, Graduate Student Ryan Friedman, Graduate Student Ivana Shen, Research Technician Megan Glaeser, Graduate Student Emily Butka, Graduate Student Mark Gorelik, Postdoctoral Fellow Elizabeth Sulvarán-Guel, Graduate Student Jimmy He, MD 2020 Daniela Vidal, Graduate Student Sara Jones, Resident Physician Elizaveta Mangutov, Graduate Student Emily Benedict, Graduate Student Daniel Paszkowski, Graduate Student Lindsay Festa, Postdoctoral Fellow Jake Roeglin, Graduate Student Magdalena Janik, Graduate Student Matthew Ward, Graduate Student Alana McMichael , Senior research staff Dong-gyu Kim, Graduate Student Emma Bartley-Dier, Graduate Student Miranda Wallace, Postdoctoral Fellow Samantha Morris, Principal Investigator Elizabeth Tilden, MSTP Student Madeline Newman, Resident Physician Divya Natarajan, MD, Concerned Citizen Apoorva Arora, Graduate Student Jerome Prusa, Postdoctoral Fellow Jesús Acevedo Cintrón, MSTP Student Ellen Urquhart, Graduate Student Gregory Wong, Alumnus