SANTA CRUZ — A former UC Santa Cruz tenured History of Consciousness professor fired in 2019 for violations of the university’s sexual assault and faculty codes of conduct settled a separate civil lawsuit with one of his accusers this week.
Gopal Balakrishnan, who came under the scrutiny of the university’s Title IX office after student-led protests and disclosures in 2017, consented Wednesday to a $45,000 settlement with undergraduate alumna Anneliese Harlander, an agreement tied to a confidentiality clause, according to the court hearing’s recorded minutes before Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Timothy Volkmann.
Following findings from the investigation by the university’s Title IX office — tasked with overseeing federal law prohibiting discrimination or sexual harassment — Balakrishnan was moved from paid leave to unpaid leave in August 2018. A month later, the Regents of the University of California voted to dismiss Balakrishnan in a closed session meeting, also opting to deny Balakrishnan emeritus status.
The settlement with Harlander comes a little more than a month after a ruling by the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District upholding an Alameda County Superior Court ruling against Balakrishnan. In that case, Balakrishnan unsuccessfully had appealed his dismissal by the UC Regents. While not disputing the finding that he sexually abused two women, Balakrishnan’s case argued that the UCSC investigation lacked jurisdiction to discipline him because the victims did not qualify as university students, the university misinterpreted and misapplied its own regulations and policies, he did not receive notice of all charges, and the sanctions were excessive. The courts disagreed on all points, according to the Court of Appeal ruling.
In 2018, Harlander shared with the Sentinel her interaction with Balakrishnan, some five years after a confrontation occurred in the aftermath of a June 18, 2013, off-campus graduation party. She told the Sentinel that Balakrishnan attempted to have intercourse with her despite her protests, an incident she first reported to the Title IX office in January 2018. Further detailed in her civil case, Harlander alleged that she had become intoxicated at the party and that Balakrishnan had accompanied her home, letting himself into her home without permission and disrobing both of them before the assault.
In a written statement to the investigator, Balakrishnan denied the portions of Harlander’s claim that involved him becoming naked and laying on top of her.
Information on filing a Title IX complaint through the university is available online at titleix.ucsc.edu/reporting/index.html. UCSC also has posted five years of summary Title IX Data and Annual Reports, with the most recent being for the 2019-2020 school year, available at titleix.ucsc.edu/about/data/index.html.