Nobel Prize winner was exposed to sexually harassing many Chinese girls, Bloomberg: It lasted for at least 10 years

Jin Lei Alex from Ao Fei Si
Qubits | Public account QbitAI

It's shocking.

Bloomberg actually "hammered" a Nobel Prize winner, and the reason for the exposure was--sexually harassed many Chinese girls!

The "accused" is Professor Philip Dybvig, who just won the Nobel Prize in Economics this year and works at the University of Washington.

Not only that, he also served as the dean of the Institute of Finance at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in China for ten years before retiring in 2021.

Some netizens even shouted: "Southwestern University of Finance and Economics lost the Nobel Prize!"

And it is precisely the academic leader who has such a connection with China who is now exposed to such violent news——

According to an investigation by Bloomberg, Dybvig’s sexual harassment incidents were not a simple incident, but continued for at least 10 years. Specially select Chinese girls to start with.

The content involved included flirting text messages, inappropriate contact, calls like "sweet girl", etc...

And many female students have provided screenshots and other evidence to Bloomberg, all pointing to Dybvig’s sexual harassment.

So what exactly is the sexual harassment scandal about this Nobel Prize winner?

Several Chinese girls accuse of sexual harassment

The exposure of the matter began with the announcement of the Nobel Prize in October this year.

At that time, the domestic public account "Yi Mu San Fen Di Warald" published an article on the topic of Dybvig winning the Nobel Prize in Economics.

However, in the comment area under the article, there is an undercurrent of accusations and exposure.

A girl directly described her experience of being sexually harassed by Dybvig 11 years ago:

△ Picture source: Warald, one-third of an acre

The girl, whose nickname is Xiang, later accepted an interview with Bloomberg and recalled a freshman event at the business school in 2011 - the scene when she first met the legendary Professor Dybvig.

Professor Dybvig spoke Chinese at the event and greeted the Chinese students enthusiastically.

But she never expected that this professor, who was highly respected in the eyes of everyone, would pull her onto his lap for a photo.

"He constantly tests your boundaries with seemingly friendly (but actually borderline) actions," Xiang described.

However, this is only the beginning of a nightmare.

Soon after, the professor began emailing her again, calling her a "sugar girl . "

One day, the professor invited Xiang to his office and gave her a box of chocolates. When she entered the room, he closed the door, pulled her to the sofa, came close to her, touched her hand, and said "I think you are beautiful" and "I like you very much"...

Moreover, judging from Xiang's description, she was not the first victim; even her senior schoolmate had heard of Dybvig's "excellent massage skills".

Perhaps inspired by this girl, a second girl also stood up:

I know what you said is true, because he also invited me to dinner...touched my hands, my face...

△ Picture source: Warald, one-third of an acre

And then there are the third, fourth...

The actual number of people may be far more than those exposed, so many students found that they were harassed by the same professor...

Bloomberg News investigated some screenshots of students' chats and found that some people gave Dybvig the nickname "Mo Xiaoshou" - which means "the one who touches little hands."

What's the response?

As the incident unfolded, Dybvig's "sexual harassment rumors" alarmed many groups at home and abroad, including Washington University in St. Louis, where he currently teaches.

After receiving the relevant news, the school quickly stated:

The school does not comment on specific cases, but it takes sexual misconduct seriously and will investigate these allegations to the fullest.

Since October, the school’s Title IX office, which handles sexual harassment complaints on campus, has contacted and interviewed at least three former Dybvig students.

On Nov. 17, the school's student newspaper published an article about two anonymous sexual harassment allegations.

Later, Bloomberg also joined the ranks of investigators and has interviewed seven former students of Dybvig.

On December 16, after extensive investigation, Bloomberg made a detailed report on the incident.

According to Bloomberg, these accusations from multiple people are supported by screenshots, or at least confirmed by the girls' classmates and friends.

However, most of the women who broke the news spoke anonymously because they are still in academia or have not yet received green cards and rely on visas to work and live in the United States.

In addition, Bloomberg also mentioned 1Point3Acres in the article - "one third of an acre".

Amid the condemnation, Dybvig’s defense lawyer Andrew Miltenberg couldn’t sit still and tried to turn the tide:

The professor has never had any inappropriate physical or verbal interactions with students and has been engaged in teaching and research for over 30 years.

The lawyer also explained the sexual harassment allegations as "malicious frame-ups by professional rivals."

He added that the investigation was still in its preliminary stages.

As for the "photo incident" that Xiang described, the defense lawyer said that the professor remembered taking the photo, but asserted that Xiang sat on his lap voluntarily and there was no force.

This response made Xiang feel very ridiculous - it was his first time to study in the United States, and he would voluntarily sit on the lap of a professor he just met in public without any reason.

The American Economic Association AEA stated that in any case, sexual harassment is indeed a long-standing problem in the economics circle, and they will discuss how to deal with this situation at their meeting in January next year.

As for the Nobel Prize organizers, Tore Ellingsen, chairman of its Economic Science Prize Committee, said that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences contacted Washington University in St. Louis to ensure that they follow fair procedures to handle these allegations:

If the Washington school does not ultimately determine that Dybvig did something wrong, then we may owe him an untainted celebration.

In October this year, Dybvig and former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Douglas W. Diamond jointly won the Nobel Prize in Economics for their "outstanding contributions to the study of banking and financial crises."

While at Yale in 1983, he co-created a mathematical model demonstrating how a bank's asset mix could cause depositors to panic.

In awarding this year's economics prize to David Ge and his co-authors, the Nobel committee said the model had become "the basis for modern banking regulation."

Dybvig has also taught at Princeton University and China's Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, where he served as dean of the Institute of Finance for ten years starting in 2010.

In addition to teaching, he has written extensively on asset pricing, investment theory, and risk management.

It is reported that Dybvig is very fascinated by China. Some netizens revealed that he also married a Chinese wife... so he can speak a little Chinese, which is why he is called "Sweet Girl".

However, who is the real victim of this uproarous sexual harassment incident still requires further careful investigation.

Having said that, facing an academic boss like Dybvig, how should students (especially girls) deal with threats?

In this regard, some netizens also came forward to offer advice, saying that they must "retain the certificate":

A piece of evidence is a piece of power.

△ Picture source: Warald, one-third of an acre

Reference links:
[1] https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/lSF6X1-Kq1gDXpwCYIgvuA
[2] https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/nobel-prize-winning-economics-professor-faces-harassment- inquiry-1.1860255
[3] https://apnews.com/article/business-education-st-louis-773db4dfdb8ed3999388cfbf38031a4b
[4] https://www.studlife.com/news/2022/11/17/philip-dybvig- professor-and-nobel-prize-winner-accused-of-inappropriate-conduct/

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