Professor accused of sexual harassment

Attorney denies the charge against his client and ANDREW RAFALAF Inter-University charges of sexual harassment are currently pending against English Professor Malcolm Woodfield, sources said yesterday. Woodfield allegedly was involved in a sexual relationship with a female student in one of his classes last year, sources said. Philadelphia attorney Alan Lerner, who Woodfield recently retained to represent him, confirmed yesterday that charges are pending against Woodfield, but denied the charges against his client. "The only thing I am at liberty to tell you is that Professor Woodfield strongly denies all the material allegations of the charge and plans to defend the charge," Lerner said. The 1992-1994 edition of University Policies and Procedures states that "Because the relationship between teacher and student is central to the academic mission of the University?any sexual relations between any teacher and a student of that teacher are inappropriate." The charge against Woodfield reached the desk of the University Ombudsman last year and word of the charge has spread to the highest levels of the University's administration, sources said last night. According to sources, School of Arts and Sciences Dean Rosemary Stevens is acting as the complainant in the Woodfield matter, which will soon come before the College Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility again. Stevens would not confirm nor deny that she is serving as complainant, and further refused to comment last night, citing the need to preserve the privacy of those who speak before the Committee. While the charge was pending last semester, Woodfield was not assigned a course load to teach, in essence a "de facto suspension," English Department Chairperson John Richetti said last night. Lerner said Woodfield filed a grievance within the University, and it is his understanding that the grievance was upheld. "At the direction of Dean Stevens, he was not assigned any classes, although he should have been," Lerner said. "I believe the Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility said that [his not being assigned a course load] was a suspension and no proper procedures were followed." Woodfield is teaching this semester. According to recent changes made by the Faculty Senate, a dean -- Stevens in Woodfield's matter -- must clear a faculty member's prolonged suspension with the Faculty Senate's Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility, Faculty Senate Chairperson Gerald Porter said. However, short suspensions are left up to the discretion of the dean, he added. University Policies and Procedures defines sexual harassment as anything that: -- involves a stated or implicit threat to the victim's academic or employment status; -- has the purpose or effect of interfering with an individual's academic or work performance; -- and/or creates an intimidating or offensive academic living or work environment. It later continues, "With respect to sexual relations in particular, what might appear to be consensus, even to the parties involved, may in fact not be so." Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson, Deputy Provost Walter Wales, and Ombudsman David DeLaura also refused to comment. But, DeLaura said he had heard about charges against Woodfield while serving as an English professor, before becoming the University's ombudsman. He added that he has not dealt with the charges as ombudsman, as he is newly appointed. The College Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility's hearings on the issue have been postponed a number of times, Richetti said last night. "These academic legal hearings have dragged on," Richetti said. "I don't know why it's taken so long." Sources say the University has attempted to cover up the existence of charges. "There's a cover-up and I think that's shameful," said a source close to the woman, who asked to remain anonymous. "Some mechanism in the English Department is keeping everybody quiet -- that sets a dangerous precedent." The matter, which has been gossiped about for months within the English Department and the administration, began to surface this week when Judith Elaine Bush Newton, a physics graduate student, referred to the charge in an electronic mail message sent to a newsgroup for University student leaders. She said in her posting that she is serving as "the electronic liaison" for those involved on behalf of the student. Newton said yesterday she is not directly involved, but added that it is important for University leaders to discuss procedures for faculty suspension regarding alleged sexual harassment of students. Woodfield did not return several phone calls made to his home yesterday evening.