Griffith Rutherford Harsh V: Accusations, Arrests, and Aftermath

Griffith Rutherford Harsh V is the elder son of former eBay CEO and 2010 California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and neurosurgeon Dr. Griffith R. Harsh IV. He drew public attention in 2010 when reports surfaced that, as a Princeton sophomore in 2006, he had been accused of sexually assaulting a female classmate and, that same year, arrested on a felony battery charge in Palo Alto, California. Neither matter produced a conviction or formal university discipline.¹

The Princeton Sexual Assault Accusation

In the spring of 2006, a female classmate said she went to Harsh’s residence after drinking at one of Princeton’s undergraduate dining clubs. She told friends she woke the next morning with a black eye and a bruised face and no memory of the night before. When she asked Harsh what had happened, she said, he told her she needed the morning-after pill.²

Harsh said the encounter was consensual. In a statement to a university disciplinary panel, he said he believed the woman was sober enough to consent and attributed her injuries to an accidental fall. He said he was “saddened and upset” that she could not remember the encounter and cited two prior sexual encounters between them as evidence of a consensual relationship.²

The accuser never contacted police and did not obtain a rape kit. She reportedly cited fears about the “social repercussions” of accusing the son of a high-profile Princeton donor.¹ Princeton’s Committee on Discipline, made up of students, faculty, and administrators, reviewed the matter in the summer of 2006 and concluded there was insufficient evidence to impose discipline.² Harsh took a year-long leave of absence and graduated with Princeton’s class of 2009.

The Palo Alto Felony Battery Arrest

Also in 2006, Harsh was arrested after an altercation at a bar in Palo Alto. Valerie Sanchez, then 22, said she made a remark to Harsh and knocked his hat off. Harsh, then 21, pushed her with two open hands on her chest and shoulder area, she said, causing her to fall and break her right ankle. A nearby security guard corroborated her account.³

Harsh was charged with felony battery, and Meg Whitman posted bail with a $25,000 cashier’s check. The charge was dismissed about a year later. Reporting at the time noted that no one involved was willing or able to explain why the case was dropped.³ Princeton did not discipline him over the arrest.⁴

Earlier Trouble at Princeton

Before either 2006 incident, Harsh had other run-ins with the rules. In 2005, at age 20, he was caught trying to buy alcohol with a fake ID at Princeton.¹ Some reports also said he had been placed on disciplinary probation and banned from living on campus at one point during his time at the university.⁵

How the Stories Became Public in 2010

Both the sexual assault accusation and the battery arrest surfaced publicly in the final weeks of Meg Whitman’s 2010 Republican campaign for governor of California against Democrat Jerry Brown. The disclosures came as the campaign was already contending with news that the family had employed an undocumented housekeeper, Nicky Diaz Santillan, for nine years.¹

When reports about Harsh V appeared in late October 2010, the Whitman campaign offered no immediate comment.¹ Whitman lost to Brown that November.

Scrutiny of the Princeton handling was sharpened by the family’s ties to the school. Whitman, a 1977 Princeton graduate and former trustee, had donated $30 million in 2002 to fund a new residential college named Whitman College, a gift that allowed Princeton to expand undergraduate enrollment by roughly ten percent. Both of her sons later attended and lived at Princeton, and the proximity of the donation to their enrollment drew attention during the 2010 campaign.⁶⁷

What Harsh Did After Princeton

After graduating in 2009, Harsh held an internship at Tesla Motors and then worked as an analyst at Solamere Group, a private equity firm co-founded by Tagg Romney, son of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.⁷

1
New York Daily News. Meg Whitman’s Son Griffith Harsh V Accused of Sexual Assault of Princeton Classmate
2
Gawker Archives. The Rape Accusation Against Meg Whitman’s Son That Got Hushed Up
3
Salon. Whitman Son Attack
4
Salon. Meg Whitman Son
5
Chief Executive. The Silver Spoon Dilemma
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Princeton University. Whitman Gift Announcement
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NBC Bay Area. Meet Meg Whitman’s Big Men on Campus