Tenured Professor and sexual harassment

[confused_person]

Can a tenured professor be fired for having sex with a student if she filed a complaint against him under pressure and then withdrew that complaint?

 

[army judge]

Can a tenured professor be fired for having sex with a student if she filed a complaint against him under pressure and then withdrew that complaint?

Yes, if the complaint is substantiated.

Many universities prohibit such conduct.

Those that engage in said conduct, are often terminated.

I'd worry about the 'victim', wising up and suing me.

The professor could end up getting it from both sides.

 

[confused_person]

Thank you so much for your quick response. How would such claims be substantiated? Can investigators use information that the student has withdrawn?

 

[army judge]

Thank you so much for your quick response. How would such claims be substantiated? Can investigators use information that the student has withdrawn?

You are making assumptions that the alleged victim actually withdrew anything.

People often say one thing and do another.

There might be hotel records, surveillance videoes, other witness observations, emails, diary entries, social networking sites have a wealth of investigative information, confessions to friends, girl/boy talk, the "sticky" matter of DNA and blue dresses...

There are many techniques investigators use to trip people up.

 

[confused_person]

Thanks Army Judge. I am actually the student and I was pressured to reveal these events. I had no idea at the time that they took it as a sexual harassment complaint. I was never sexually harassed and I have been trying to tell them that. They only have my statement, no other videos or evidence.

 

[army judge]

Thanks Army Judge. I am actually the student and I was pressured to reveal these events. I had no idea at the time that they took it as a sexual harassment complaint. I was never sexually harassed and I have been trying to tell them that. They only have my statement, no other videos or evidence.

You can recant.
I suspect you've done that.
I hope you never are sexually harassed or abused.
Sexual harassment is a nightmare for men and women that have suffered through it.

I just hope that if you ever suffer this fate, you aren't thought of as the girl or boy who once cried wolf.

 

[confused_person]

Thanks so much. I merely withdrew the complaint, said I wasnt harassed and that I dont want to cooperate in the investigation. I hope that is enough.
Thank you for your help. I do apppreciate your honest response.

 

[allisoncds]

Dear Confused Person,

Did you want to file a complaint? You said you were pressured to do so. You seem concerned about the termination of the professor which makes me wonder who pressured you to file the complaint and why you withdrew it.

I'd add to Army Judge's thoughts a bit with the perspective I'm picking up from what you've shared.

If the professor is/was tenured and is under investigation for sexual harassment, the institution is going to need to build a strong case for firing him. If they wanted to fire him, they'd try to build that case. If they didn't want to fire him, they'd try to avoid doing so. Firing a tenured professor is a costly, time-consuming effort.
There are only two reasons a school would go through the tedious process of firing a tenured professor:

1) The professor's behavior (sexual harassment/moral turpitude) warrants a reprimand as severe as termination of a tenured professor, or
2) The school has another motive for wanting to terminate the tenured professor, and the sexual harassment/moral turpitude is a pretext for the school's actual motive.

The question is, did he sexually harass you? And if so, wouldn't you want him to be fired? Either the school is defending women like you by firing the professor, or you're caught in the middle of something else.

I was a victim of sexual harassment. I WISH when I was sexually harassed (and then caught up in the middle of organizational politics) that there was a forum like this for me to reach out. The politics surrounding my experience were more complex and disturbing than I ever would have imagined. I hate to see others caught up in what sounds like a similar experience.

I have many more thoughts on this, but I'll stop here. I just hope you're not too damaged in all of it. That's what I really thought when coming across this thread. :hugs: