In the Media

Prominent lawyer accuses UC Davis professor of rape (Davis Enterprise)

Extract:

On Monday, Dr. Ann Olivarius, a prominent lawyer and feminist, accused Dr. Calvin Hirsch, who has taught and practiced medicine at UC Davis for years, of raping her in 1974 when they were both undergraduate students at Yale University.

Olivarius, who is based in the United Kingdom, is a former advisor to Nelson Mandela and was recently profiled by British Vogue. Over the past four decades, she has built a storied career representing victims of sexual harassment and discrimination. She is widely recognized for bringing a lawsuit against Yale that changed the way universities handle complaints of sexual harassment and for coining the phrase “date rape,” which she invented to describe her alleged rape by Hirsch.  

Until this week, Olivarius had not publicly named Hirsch as her rapist. She did so Monday in an account published by her law firm, McAllister Olivarius. In addition to details about the alleged rape, Olivarius’ account raised questions about Hirsch’s conduct as a physician at UC Davis and about the Medical Board of California’s response to a complaint Olivarius filed last year against Hirsch.