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Comment by robert_foss | Hacker News Reader

At this point the number of Academy members that have resigned has has left the Academy with fewer members than what is required to make an Nobel prize decision. Currently there are 10 members, and 11 members is the minimum required.

So it isn't really about choice at this point.

Secondly the reasons for the resignations and turmoil is the unwillingness of some, the majority, of the Academy members to recognize and properly handle the _alleged_ sexual harassment by Jean-Claude Arnault.

To make this matter worse Jean-Claude Arnault is married to an Academy member and the two of them together run a 'culture' organization which is funded and closely related to the Academy.

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From the legal perspective, the factual aspect is that the academy should have acted on the corruption where one family member made a decision to grant funding to an other family member. This is classic nepotism and in Sweden a actually crime (Jäv) and a problem which international anti-corruption agency has highlighted to be an issue in Sweden. Its a common theme for the nation funded investigating journalism program called Uppdrag Granskning, through sadly rarely recognized in the public discussions around corruption.

When the Academy issued an internal investigation by a lawyer firm, the report they got back had very little to say about the alleged sexual harassments. It did however recommend that they should report the corruption and for some reason the Academy decide against it. After some major public outcry covering mostly the alleged sexual harassments, the Academy suddenly turned about and are now following the recommendation and has reported the corruption to the police.

What I would like to think is that the corruption charges would have come up to light regardless of the sexual harassment accusations, but I guess thats the current political climate in Sweden. Now it is being used as a proxy to address the sexual harassment accusations which is extremely suboptimal.

Alleged sexual harassment, in keeping with the facts reported in the article.

>Secondly the reasons for the resignations and turmoil is the unwillingness of some, the majority, of the Academy members to recognize and properly handle the _alleged_ sexual harassment by Jean-Claude Arnault.

How about their don't recognize or handle anything?

If Jean-Claude Arnault is guilty of sexual harassment, let him legally go to jail / pay a fine / serve community service or whatever.

That's for the law to decide.

They can then take them off the academy (or not) -- if he is convicted.

Otherwise, it's not their business to do anything about it, and even less so for something "alleged".

Otherwise, it's not their business to do anything about it

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree here. If a company or organization receives multiple independent accusations against someone, it is absolutely their business to look into it and decide if this is a person they want to keep being involved with, completely separate from any police involvement. It may even be their business to bring this information to the police and provide any evidence they may have if the accusations are serious enough.

At most companies just the serious suspicion of financial fraud, repeated sexual harassment or the covering up of these is plenty enough to get you fired.

Organizations, especially ones in the public eye, have to set a higher bar for acceptable behavior than the criminal justice system. Lots of bad behaviors aren't criminal, or aren't usually prosecuted, but should still be grounds for removal.

>Organizations, especially ones in the public eye, have to set a higher bar for acceptable behavior than the criminal justice system.

Not really, and not their job. If we wanted that, we could always set a higher bar for the criminal justice system.

>Lots of bad behaviors aren't criminal, or aren't usually prosecuted, but should still be grounds for removal.

In this case we're not talking about chewing gum on a board meeting, or treating employees bad (e.g. shouting at them) or something like that.

We're talking about actual criminal behaviors -- but only "alleged" ones. Those should be handled legally or not at all.

Else not a point in having a legal system, if any accusation can lead to "mob justice" or ad-hoc measures against someone.

if it is alleged then how should you handle it?

everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

...in a court of law. For better or for worse, this is a court of public opinion.

For worse.

For anything to happen in this case.

Nothing has been brought to the police in terms of sexual assault reports. The police report the academy has let go forward is about the corruption/financial issues.

In terms of being sentenced yes.

But this guy was given money to run an organization in which I think 14 counts of alleged sexual harassment has been reported.

It would be grossly negligent to continue to sponsor this.

If it hasn't been proven then there's nothing to talk about. They could've made it up just so he they can kick him out.

Continuing to give funding to someone credibly accused to sexual harassment is a very bad look. Especially when that person is also married to a committee member. That is absolutely something to talk about.

They could've made it up just so he they can kick him out.

Kick him out of what?

Of the committee. Maybe they just want to ruin his life. Credible? If it's credible, why hasn't he been convicted.

Of the committee.

He's not and never has been on the committee. His wife is. And no one has been kicked off the committee.

If it's credible, why hasn't he been convicted.

Because building a case strong enough to stand up in court in situations like these is really hard and the police/prosecutors have decided not to priorities it.

But the core of the matter isn't really the sexual harassment, it's the fact that the Academy apparently knew about several cases of both sexual harassment and, more importantly, possible financial fraud/corruption involving this individual and instead of dealing with it, decided to protect him. The sexual harassment charges are just the events that brought these more serious charges to light.

I was under the impression that he was in the committee. Why should his wife leave? I don't understand.

Why should his wife leave?

Primarily because he is accused of improperly getting funding from the Academy and she was accused of enabling and profiting from this as well as blocking any further investigation into the matter.

There are also accusations that she prevented the Academy from looking into earlier accusation of sexual harassment against her husband, but that is secondary.

>Because building a case strong enough to stand up in court in situations like these is really hard and the police/prosecutors have decided not to priorities it.

So it's the ideal ground for character assassinations?

Especially since society doesn't blame/shame the victims anymore (which is good) -- so someone wrongfully accusing has all the upside and no downsides (which is bad).

Standards of "proof" vary, even in courts of law (beyond reasonable doubt vs preponderance of evidence), let alone outside of them.

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