Gary Urton (born July 7, 1946) is an American

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

. He was the Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Pre-Columbian Studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and the chair of its anthropology department between 2012 and 2019. Urton retired from Harvard in 2020, after multiple former students accused him of

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...

. Despite much controversy and opposition, he was given an emeritus title after retirement. Following internal investigation, Urton was stripped of his emeritus status by Harvard in June 2021.

Education and career

Urton received his B.A. from the University of New Mexico in 1969, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

in 1971 and 1979, respectively. He was a professor at

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

from 1978 to 2002. He is married to artist and anthropologist Julia Meyerson. Urton is a specialist in

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

archaeology, particularly the quipu (''khipu'') rope-based recording system used in the

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

empire in the 15th and 16th centuries. He is one of the most prominent advocates of the theory that the quipus encode linguistic as well as numerical information. He is a class of 2000 MacArthur Fellow.

Sexual harassment allegations

According to an investigation by ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper at Harvard University, an Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The newspaper was founded in 1873, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduate students. His ...

'', Urton was the subject of a

complaint from a former student in 2016. The student alleged that Urton "pressured her into 'unwelcome sex'" in exchange for a recommendation letter. Urton responded that the allegations were "either untrue, inaccurate, or misleading". More allegations emerged following the publication of the investigation. UC-San Diego professor Jade d'Alpoim Guedes alleged that Urton had inappropriately propositioned her for sex while she was a graduate student at Harvard. It was also alleged that Urton harassed students at his field school in San Jose de Moro, and the anthropology department received further complaints that were not made public. After 25 faculty members and nearly 400 students signed letters calling for his resignation, Urton retired from Harvard in July 2020. In June 2021, the Harvard Office for Dispute Resolution concluded that Urton had engaged in unwelcome sexual conduct and abused power with individuals over whom he had professional responsibility. In response to these findings Urton was stripped of his emeritus status, and was banned from engaging with the Harvard community. The allegations against Urton surfaced amidst reports of a general culture of sexual harassment and gender discrimination at Harvard's anthropology department. In June 2020, over fifty former students and faculty signed a letter complaining that under Urton's leadership, the department was an "old boys’ club" that fostered "an environment that tolerated gender-based harassment, ..sexual misconduct, sexism, and misogyny." In 2015, while Urton was the chair of the department, a Title IX gender discrimination lawsuit was brought against it by former professor Kimberly Theidon. The lawsuit primarily concerned multiple allegations of sexual harassment against Urton's colleague Theodore C. Bestor, but also included the accusation that Urton had protected Bestor and "intentionally sabotaged" Theidon's application for

tenure Tenure is a type of academic appointment that protects its holder from being fired or laid off except for cause, or under extraordinary circumstances such as financial exigency or program discontinuation. Academic tenure originated in the United ...

because of her advocacy for students who experienced sexual harassment.

Selected publications

* ''Inka History in Knots: Reading Khipus as Primary Sources''. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2017. * ''The Khipus of Laguna de los Condores/Los Khipus de la Laguna de los Cóndores''.

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, Peru: Forma e Imagen 2008. * ''Signs of the Inka Khipu: Binary Coding in the Andean Knotted-String Records''. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2003. Spanish edition: ''Signos del Khipu Inka: Código Binario''. Cusco, Peru: Centro Bartolomé de las Casas, 2005. * ''Inca Myths''.

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

: British Museum Press and Austin, TX: Press, 1999. (Translated into Spanish, German, Russian, Korean, Polish, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, and French). * ''The Social Life of Numbers: A Quechua Ontology of Numbers and Philosophy of Arithmetic''. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1997. Spanish edition: ''La Vida Social de los Numeros: Una Ontologia de los Números y la Filosofía de la Aritmética Quechuas''.

Cusco Cusco or Cuzco (; or , ) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous Cusco Province, province and Cusco Region, department. The city was the cap ...

, Peru: Centro Bartolomé de las Casas, 2003. * ''The History of a Myth: Pacariqtambo and the Origin of the Inkas''. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1990. Spanish edition: ''Historia de un Mito: Pacariqtambo y el Origen de los Inkas''. Cusco, Peru: Centro Bartolomé de las Casas, 2004. * ''At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky: An Andean Cosmology''. Latin American Monographs, no. 55, 1981. paperback edition, 1988. Spanish edition: ''En el Cruce de Rumbos de las Tierra y el Cielo''.

, Peru: Centro Bartolomé de las Casas, 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urton, Gary Living people MacArthur Fellows American anthropologists University of New Mexico alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Colgate University faculty Harvard University faculty People from Concord, Massachusetts 1946 births Scholars of Andean civilizations