Women’s History Museum Boss Resigns After Alleged Retaliation Against Sexual Misconduct Claims
Nancy Yao has withdrawn as founding director of the Smithsonian's new American Women’s History Museum under sketchy circumstances.
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The Smithsonian Institution announced in March—Women’s History Month—that Nancy Yao would be the founding director of its forthcoming American Women’s History Museum, which is set to have a prestigious home on the National Mall or alongside the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., when it opens in roughly a decade. A month later, the Washington Post reported that Yao’s position was being reconsidered after it came to light that she allegedly fired three employees at the New York museum she previously led (the Museum of Chinese in America, or MOCA) in retaliation for making sexual harassment claims on behalf of young female staffers. (All three whistleblowers were fired; all three wrongful termination lawsuits were settled; two of the men accused of sexual misconduct kept their jobs at MOCA, and Yao promoted one of them, according to the Post.)
Her start date at the women’s museum was delayed for months until, on Wednesday afternoon, she officially withdrew from the position, citing only “family issues that require her attention,” in a statement to the Post. Melanie Adams, director of the Anacostia Community Museum, will serve as interim director until the Smithsonian finds a permanent replacement for Yao.