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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
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    15

    Default False Accusation of Sexual Harassment at a University

    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Pennsylvania

    I am a Visiting Professor at a private university. Over the course of the year, I developed a close personal relationship (friendship) with a student. She wasn't my student, and she wasn't even in my department. Over time, I developed feelings for her. It didn't happen in a vacuum. She frequently flirted with me, made physical contact with me, and paid me over the top compliments. She gave me a poem that she had written for a class. I responded by giving her a picture that I drew of her. She frequently contacted me via text or facebook. I told her that I was going to give flowers to the girls in my classes on valentines day, and that I would give some to her, too. She encouraged me to do so. Later, she said that she liked the flowers that I gave her. All of this led me to believe that she had feelings for me, too. I conducted myself like a gentleman at all times. I never mentioned sex to this lady at any time.

    I eventually told her how I felt. She told me that she didn't feel comfortable with the situation, and asked me not to contact her again. I didn't. I withdrew from common club activities. I stayed in my office or in my lab during passing periods and during mealtimes.

    A week after I told her, I was informed that a third party had filed a claim against me, claiming that I was a threat to the student's safety. The head of campus security went to my house as part of his initial investigation. He entered my house without my permission while I was not there, searched it, and later claimed that he was afraid that I had hurt myself. I was in my lab at the time.

    He dragged me to his office, and proceeded to interrogate me. At the end of this, I was placed on administrative leave for "making inappropriate comments." I have not been provided with a full list of allegations. I have not been provided with a specific charge or policy that I am alleged to have violated. I have not been told who my accusers are. To my knowledge, the student at the center of all of this did not file a claim against me. I have endured six weeks of investigation. This has included mandatory counseling sessions, a psychiatric examination (fitness for duty), and a title IX interview. The interview was conducted by a person who became verbally abusive over (repeated) requests for simple information such as a list of allegations.

    Yesterday, I was informed that I had been found guilty in a meeting of my supervisors of "inappropriate conduct." Which is a vague charge, utterly lacking in specificity. It does not say which policy or policies that I am alleged to have violated. I have been ordered never to speak to the student again (which I was already doing), to take an online course about sexual harassment, and not to return to my classes. I was provided with neither a full listing of allegations, nor an opportunity to respond to them. I had no hearing, and no opportunity to speak in my own defense. I still don't know if the student ever wanted a claim filed against me.

    I have a lawyer, but with no information, we have no opportunity to mount a defense.

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