Out: David Carrera, 50, the USC vice president for advancement and health sciences development, was ousted from his post amid an internal sexual harassment investigation
A top fundraising executive at University of Southern California has stepped down amid allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace.
David Carrera, 50, the USC vice president for advancement and health sciences development, was ousted from his post last week, but his departure was not made public until Wednesday.
USC has been rocked by several high-profile scandals involving alleged sexual misconduct and corruption over the past year, which was marked by the back-to-back ousters of two medical school deans and the arrest of an assistant basketball coach.
According to a Los Angeles Times report, Carrera is the subject of an ongoing internal investigation being carried out by the USC Office of Equity and Diversity, which has already conducted dozens of interviews with female employees.
‘Discrimination and harassment have no place at USC,’ OED Executive Director Gretchen Dahlinger Means told The Times. ‘The university does not tolerate behavior that violates its strict policy and takes appropriate disciplinary action when it does.’
The Times article says that so far, at least five women have come forward complaining about Carrera’s conduct, claiming that the administrator responsible for raising hundreds of millions of dollars for the university would ask female colleagues about their dating habits and discuss his sex life with them.
USC has been rocked by multiple scandals involving sexual harassment and corruption allegations this past year
According to the reporting, Carrera also would make inappropriate comments about female colleagues and other women.
Carrera had been at USC since August 2014. Prior to that, he had occupied the position of assistant vice president of the Fund of Johns Hopkins Medicine at Johns Hopkins University for nearly nine years.
His LinkedIn page indicates that Carrera earned a Bachelor’s degree in marketing from Loyola University- Maryland.
Records and social media posts show that Carrera is married, and he and wife Jackie have two sons and a daughter together.
Jackie Carrera, a fellow Loyola University alumnus, operates a yoga studio in Rancho Palos Verdes, which she opened after resigning as CEO of a non-profit foundation in Baltimore in 2014.
One-two punch: Last week, Dr Rohit Varma (left), dean of USC’s Keck School of Medicine, resigned over sexual misconduct claims dating back 15 years. Varma’s predecessor, Dr Camera Puliafito (right), was fired in March 2016 for somking meth and keeping bad company
Foul play: In September, assistant USC men’s basketball coach Tony Bland was arrested and charged with solicitation of bribery
He was suspended from his job at USC on September 9 and stepped down about four weeks later. As of Thursday morning, his name has been largely expunged from USC’s website.
Carrera’s ouster comes a week after Dr Rohit Varma, a well-respected ophthalmologist and dean of USC’s Keck School of Medicine, stepped down after the Times revealed that he was disciplined 15 years ago over allegations that he sexually harassed a researcher, but was allowed to stay on at USC.
Family man: Carrera is married, and he and wife Jackie (pictured together above) have two sons and a daughter together.
Varma officially took over as dean in January, after his predecessor Dr Camera Puliafito was fired for smoking meth and keeping company with prostitutes and criminals.
In September, assistant USC men’s basketball coach Tony Bland was arrested and charged with solicitation of bribery for allegedly accepting payments to persuade players to sign with specific agents.
Bland was among 10 men who were netted in a massive FBI sting operation targeting corruption in college basketball.
Bland has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation that is being carried out by a former FBI director.
According to a letter sent to USC’s medical school community Tuesday night, Provost Michael Quick said there is a plan in the works to appoint a vice provost to ‘provide leadership training to address our expectations of deans and senior leaders, and to evaluate their performance,’ reported The Times.
USC will also create an ombudsman office to address staff complaints.