Stanton Glantz Accused Again of Sexual and Academic Misconduct

For the second time in just four months, anti-tobacco (and anti-vaping) activist Stanton Glantz is facing sexual harassment and academic misconduct accusations from a former subordinate at the University of California-San Francisco.

Juliette Jackson, a former research associate at UCSF, has filed a lawsuit claiming that Glantz created a “sexually-charged” and hostile work environment, according to the San Francisco Examiner. The lawsuit charges that Glantz “repeatedly leered at Jackson’s and other females' breasts.”

Jackson also says that Glantz discriminated against her based on her race (she is half Native American). “The worst came in January 2017, when a post-doctoral colleague of mine witnessed [Glantz] scream and yell, ‘I only hired you because you are Native American,’” The lawsuit charges that Glantz “fraudulently used Jackson’s tribal enrollment status to obtain federal funding for tribal policy research that Jackson was not involved with.”

Jackson reported Glantz to the university, but says she got little support during the investigation. Her attorney, Dow Patten, told the Examiner that UCSF “didn’t do anything to protect [Jackson] from the person she made a complaint about.” Patten says Jackson’s lawsuit and the one made last year by Eunice Neeley show that the university tolerates sexual harassment and discrimination.

Glantz has been a leader of the tobacco control movement for decades, starting as an advocate for indoor smoking bans in California and as a crusader against the tobacco industry. He has also been among the loudest and most persistent voices in opposition to vaping and tobacco harm reduction.

Glantz is the principal investigator at UCSF’s Center for Tobacco Research and Education. It is one of 14 Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS) established by the FDA and National Institutes of Health as part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Glantz has brought in millions of dollars in grants for the university.

Glantz has written or collaborated on many studies that have been called out for terrible methodology and reasoning, including a widely criticized 2016 meta-analysis that purports to show that using e-cigarettes actually makes it harder to quit smoking.

Last December, similar charges were made against Glantz in a lawsuit by former UCSF postdoctoral researcher Eunice Neeley. Neeley also claimed that the university failed to prevent the harassment and allowed Glantz to use his position to retaliate against her when she complained.

Neeley’s lawsuit said that Glantz engaged in a pattern of harassing behavior toward women in the department. “Professor Glantz abused his authority and prestige at UCSF and sexually harassed Neeley, and other female subordinates, and subjected them to misogynistic and racially insensitive behavior,” the lawsuit claimed.

In addition to the sexual harassment charges, Neeley accused Glantz of removing her name from a paper she wrote and inserting his own name as lead author. Neeley said that was done in retaliation for reporting his conduct and asking the university for a new mentor and supervisor.