Harvard eliminates dean of black faculties for representing Harvey Weinstein at rape trial

Harvard College eliminates a controversial dean of the faculty after deciding to represent Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein at his rape trial this fall.

Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana said on Saturday that he would not renew the appointments of law professor Ronald Sullivan and his wife, Stephanie Robinson, as faculty deans when their term ends on Friday. June 30th.

Students who lived in Harvard's Winthrop House, the undergraduate residency supervised by Sullivan – and where he also lives – had demanded that he be fired from his position because of his work for Weinstein.

Harvard administrators conducted a "climate scan" of Winthrop House in response to student complaints.

"The concerns expressed are serious and numerous," Khurana writes in an e-mail to students and professors, obtained by The New York Times. "The measures taken to improve the climate have been ineffective and the screaming lack of Dean's faculty attendance during critical moments has further deteriorated the climate of the house.I have concluded that the situation in the house is untenable."

Sullivan and his wife were the first deans of black faculties in Harvard history.