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18 members of Time’s Up Healthcare left the organization last week over handling allegations that co-founder and board member Esther Choo did not report complaints of sexual harassment.
A mutiny among members of the healthcare arm of Time’s Up tarnishes the public image of the influential gender rights organization as it takes on a broader advocacy role in Hollywood, pushing for changes to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Eighteen members of Time’s Up Healthcare resigned last week due to the organization’s handling of allegations that co-founder and board member Esther Choo failed to report sexual harassment complaints filed by a colleague from Oregon Health and Science University. These members believe the advocacy group has prioritized protecting Choo over supporting the anonymous plaintiff in the case.
The mass exodus represents more than a third of the branch, which was created to tackle issues of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in healthcare within Time’s Up Now’s largest organization. The controversy highlights lingering concerns that Time’s Up is failing to meet its goal of prioritizing victims of sexual assault and harassment when that goal conflicts with the interests of powerful members or funders.
“I believed in Time’s Up Healthcare’s mission, which I thought was to center survivors,” says Monica McLemore, co-founder of Time’s Up Healthcare and associate professor in the Department of Family Health Nursing at UCSF, who has resigned from organization last week. “I’m angry because we missed a perfect opportunity to model the behavior we want to see from businesses and workplaces. I don’t need more evidence to show me that some people aren’t serious about what they say.
Time’s Up CEO Tina Tchen responded to the controversy in a lengthy March 10 statement at Hollywood journalist, who was next to surrender to Time’s Up leaders and supporters on March 11. “Dr. Choo acted in a way she believed was supportive of the survivor, including on the issue of reporting the abuse, and in accordance with the values she displayed as one of the founders. TIME’S UP Healthcare, ”the press release reads in part. “Providing support and guidance to those who have experienced the trauma of sexual harassment and abuse, especially in the workplace, can be difficult. There isn’t always a clear path to getting advice and guidance, especially when it comes to centering the survivor’s wishes and ability to make decisions for herself at that time. .. I don’t agree that standing by the survivor’s side and in support of her pursuit of justice requires that we walk away from Dr Choo and his leadership.
Days after outgoing members of healthcare group Time’s Up posted stunning public statements about the organization on Twitter, members of a Time’s Up entertainment committee received an agreement containing a confidentiality clause. to sign before their next meeting on March 17, a movement raising eyebrows. for an organization founded in defiance of non-disclosure agreements traditionally used in sexual harassment and assault regulations. A source from Time’s Up said the purpose of the deal is to protect the privacy of members who may share stories of abuse or harassment, not to protect the organization.
Some Hollywood-based sexual assault advocates and survivors have followed Time’s Up’s handling of the OHSU case with concern, including Weinstein accuser Rose McGowan, who calls the organization’s role here “disgusting and egregious.” . “I tried to sound the alarm on Time’s Up for a long time,” says McGowan THR. “These are the women of Time’s Up helping the wrong people. They are now full authors. There are many ways to participate in [misconduct]. There is the act and the consequences. They are gas and have always been a fraud. “
Although established as a women’s rights group, Time’s Up has broadened its scope, recently taking a vocal role in the HFPA’s critique of the racial makeup and ethics of this group. On March 9, Time’s Up called on all HFPA members to quit immediately, among other demands.
Time’s Up Healthcare’s resignations, which began on March 4 and continued through March 9, follow the filing on February 26 of a sexual harassment lawsuit against the former University of the Oregon Health and Science, Jason Campbell, popularly known as “Doctor TikTok” for his dance videos. in his hospital that were shared widely on TikTok during the pandemic. The complaint alleges that Campbell sent the complainant suggestive messages and photos, and came up behind her and pushed his erection inside her. Neither Campbell nor his lawyer responded to requests for comment.
According to the complaint, the complainant told Choo, professor of emergency medicine at OHSU where she works with Campbell, about the harassment on March 31, 2020, and Choo failed to report it, as required by the title. IX, at Laura Stadum, OHSU. Title IX coordinator and co-founder of Time’s Up Healthcare. (Choo, who also runs Equity Quotient, a for-profit consultancy on gender and race issues in medicine, had recruited Stadum to join Time’s Up). When the complainant provided details and screenshots, the complaint states that Choo responded by text: “Uh, I’m giving him feedback.” In April, the complainant said she told Choo that Campbell also harassed and sexually assaulted an OHSU employee, but the victim was afraid to report it. Choo’s response to the complainant regarding the sexual harassment report was, “It’s never worth it. Never, ”says the complaint.
After media reports on the trial began to circulate over the weekend of February 27 and 28, several Time’s Up members overheard colleagues in the health care sector wondering when the group was going to respond, and various members spoke up. urged Time’s Up management to do so. so quickly. At the time, Time’s Up was focusing on its high-profile HFPA efforts around the Golden Globes on February 28.
Time’s Up is made up of several branches, including the Legal Defense Fund hosted by the National Women’s Law Center, which has supported over 200 legal cases, the Time’s Up Foundation, which is the leading 501 (c) public charity (3 ), and Time’s Up Now, a 501 (c) (4) welfare organization, which oversees Time’s Up Healthcare.
When the OHSU case became public and began to spark discussion in the medical community, McLemore emailed Tchen and COO Monifa Bandele suggesting the organization issue a statement of support for the complainant. in the OHSU lawsuit and to say publicly that Choo and Stadum would refrain from participating in Time’s Up-related activities until the dispute is resolved. During a Zoom call on March 2 with several of the co-founders of Time’s Up Healthcare, the executives of Time’s Up Now said it would amount to an admission of guilt on Choo’s part and attract more attention, according to multiple sources who were on the call. In a March 3 phone call with more than 20 Time’s Up Healthcare members in attendance but without Time’s Up Now leadership, a majority of members said they supported Choo’s temporary removal. “No one hates Esther,” said a member who was on the March 3 roll call. “But they think she’s human, and humans make mistakes and when they make mistakes they should admit them and be responsible for them.”
On March 4, Time’s Up released a statement saying she was “in solidarity with the survivor in her decision to share her story,” but standing up for Choo. “Although Dr. Esther Choo is mentioned in the complaint, it is important to clarify that she is neither a defendant nor a party to the case,” the statement said. “The two accused are Dr. Jason Campbell, who is alleged in the complaint to have committed the harassment and sexual assault in question, and Oregon Health and Science University, then his employer. Since Dr. Choo is at most a witness to these events and may have to testify about them, it is not appropriate for Dr. Choo or TIME’S UP to comment further on the issues in dispute. “
This statement triggered the wave of resignations. “There were divided loyalties,” says Pringl Miller, surgeon and co-founder of Time’s Up Healthcare, who is also president and founder of the advocacy group Physician Just Equity. “Rather than just centering the survivor, [the statement] was also aimed at securing support for Dr. Choo.
Concerns raised by resigning members of Time’s Up Healthcare mirror those that sexual assault survivors raised last year about Time’s Up role behind the scenes of HBO’s documentary Max On the Record. Oprah Winfrey, one of the founding donors of Time’s Up, initially supported the project at Apple + before dropping it, telling The New York Times and CBS This Morning that there were “inconsistencies” in the accounts of the accusers. When Time’s Up declined to add its name to a list of organizations releasing a statement supporting the women who appear in the film, many gender activists felt the organization was choosing the interests of a powerful donor rather than those of sexual assault survivors that she was created. to serve.
Tatiana Siegel contributed to this report.
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