Wednesday

"I have now received the formal report of the committee charged to investigate the matter; and I have taken action that I believe is appropriate in this situation."

Following up on news of these letters, Robin Wilson of The Chronicle of Higher Education confirmed that NU is for now keeping the results of the investigation and any discipline involved a secret. However, she also learned the amazing fact that Mr. Bailey had resigned as Chairman of the Psychology Department way back in October, 2004! Wow, is that news or what? And the shift in leadership can be readily confirmed by looking at the NU Psych Dept's "faculty profile" webpage, which no longer lists Mr. Bailey as Chair, but lists Alice Eagly instead. (The profile website today shows a last updating as of 11-17-04).

This shift in department leadership had till now been unknown outside of inner NU circles until Ms. Wilson's article appeared (see below), and signals by lack of any explanation whatsoever that a rather major event has occurred (i.e., the onset of a likely collapse of Mr. Bailey's career in academe).

As a result of what appears to all as an undoubtedly forced resignation as department chairman, Mr. Bailey is now merely a regular faculty member. He no longer occupies the bully-pulpit of a major department chairmanship from which he could claim to be a famous sex scientist and rising "scientific leader", and from where he could spend his time pontificating about and defaming gender minorities instead of doing research and teaching. All that is gone now, and the lack of any explanation for his stepping down signals that a "quiet victory" is now emerging in our investigation of the research and ethical misconduct behind the publication of Mr. Bailey's book by the National Academy Press.

Northwestern U. Concludes Investigation of Sex Researcher but Keeps Results Secret
By ROBIN WILSON

Northwestern University has concluded its investigation into complaints against J. Michael Bailey, a professor of psychology who has been accused of failing to inform transsexual women that they were research subjects before he wrote about them in a 2003 book. But the university will not reveal its findings or say whether it punished Mr. Bailey.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bailey resigned as chairman of the university's psychology department in October, said Alan K. Cubbage, a Northwestern spokesman, who added that the change had nothing to do with the investigation. Mr. Bailey, who remains a full professor at the university, did not return a telephone call or an e-mail message seeking comment on Tuesday.

In letters to several transsexual women who have complained about Mr. Bailey, Northwestern's provost, Lawrence B. Dumas, said only that he had "taken action that I believe is appropriate in this situation." The provost did not reveal details because, he wrote, "personnel actions concerning university employees are confidential."

The letters infuriated transsexual women who filed complaints about Mr. Bailey during the summer of 2003. "We believe that this cover-up is an incredible slap in the face not only to us transwomen but also to everyone else who has been watching this case and wanting to know the results," said Lynn Conway, a professor emerita of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor who is among the transsexual women who complained.

"As the Catholic Church for decades cloaked in secrecy their investigation of child sexual abuse by priests," she continued, "Northwestern has now cloaked in secrecy its investigation of sexual, ethical, and scientific abuse of transsexual women, saying what amounts to: 'Trust us. Take our word for it. We've corrected whatever problems there might have been.'"

Several transsexual women complained to the university that Mr. Bailey had written about them in his book, The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism, without getting their consent as research participants. The book was published by the Joseph Henry Press, an imprint of the prestigious National Academies Press.

One of those complained has also charged that Mr. Bailey had sex with her while she was an unwitting subject of his research. She said that Mr. Bailey, a psychologist, supplied her with a letter she needed from a professional in support of her desire for sex-change surgery. Mr. Bailey has not commented publicly on the accusations (The Chronicle, December 19, 2003).

The transsexual women are unhappy with the thesis of Mr. Bailey's book, in which he debunks the popular theory that men who want a sex change to become women are women trapped in men's bodies. Rather, Mr. Bailey writes, they either are extremely feminine gay men or are sexual fetishists who are "erotically obsessed with the image of themselves as women."

Northwestern Sex Researcher Investigated, Results Unknown
by Andrew Davis
2004-12-08

Northwestern University has concluded its investigation into complaints against J. Michael Bailey, a psychology professor who has been accused of failing to inform transsexual women that they were research subjects before he wrote about them in a 2003 book. However, the school will not reveal its findings or say whether it punished Bailey, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

Bailey resigned as chairman of the university’s psychology department in October, Alan K. Cubbage, a Northwestern spokesman, told the Chronicle. Cubbage added that the change had nothing to do with the investigation. Bailey remains a full professor at the university.

In letters to several transsexual women who have complained about Bailey, Northwestern’s provost, Lawrence B. Dumas, said only that he had “taken action that I believe is appropriate in this situation.” The provost did not reveal details because, he wrote, “personnel actions concerning university employees are confidential.” The letters infuriated transsexual women who filed complaints about Bailey in 2003.

Several transsexual women complained to the university that Bailey had written about them in his book, The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism, without getting their approval to be research participants.

The transsexual women are also unhappy with the thesis of Bailey’s book, in which he ditches the theory that men who want a sex change to become women are women trapped in men’s bodies. Rather, Bailey writes, they either are extremely feminine gay men or are sexual fetishists who are “erotically obsessed with the image of themselves as women.”