Weinberg Prof. Peter Ludlow canceled at least one of his 300-level philosophy classes Tuesday, which many students had planned on walking out of in protest of Northwestern’s continued employment of Ludlow after a Medill junior filed a sexual assault complaint against him in 2012.

Students planned a sit-in of Ludlow’s 12:30 p.m. class, “Philosophy of Psychology,” at a forum Monday evening. Students planned on collectively walking out of the class at 1 p.m., and some planned on bringing signs, according to the event’s Facebook page. University Police were present at Harris Hall, the site of the planned sit-in, Tuesday morning. Deputy Chief Dan McAleer said officers were there to make sure the sit-in proceeded “safely” and directed further inquiries to University spokesman Al Cubbage.

Organizers of the event said on the page that they will still meet at 12:30 p.m. to plan future steps, and that they will sit-in and walk out of the same class on Thursday.

Ludlow’s alleged sexual assault of a Medill junior spurred a recent Title IX lawsuit against the University and a suit against Ludlow himself.

The student alleges that NU did not properly handle her complaint of sexual assault. Ludlow has denied all allegations of sexual assault and harassment.

At Monday’s forum, students and faculty also discussed the University’s response to the Title IX lawsuit. On Feb. 21, NU requested that the suit be dismissed and denied the claims that it had violated Title IX. In turn, this response launched a petition from concerned faculty requesting that the Board of Trustees fully implement Title IX and the Clery Act and requesting greater transparency in cases of sexual misconduct.

The petition was endorsed by the Associated Student Government at its meeting last week. About 1,360 people had signed the Change.org petition as of Tuesday morning. NU responded to the petition Tuesday morning.

(Northwestern responds to faculty petition on sexual misconduct policies)

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