SAS document outlines charges against Woodfield

and ANDREW RAFALAF School of Arts and Sciences Dean Rosemary Stevens began proceedings to suspend or terminate Assistant English Professor Malcolm Woodfield for sexual harassment last August, according to a draft of an SAS document obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian. The letter, sent by Stevens, bases its recommendation on the claim that Woodfield had sexual relations with a female senior for a period of three months during the spring of 1993. The student is accusing Woodfield of sexual harassment. Stevens, reached by telephone last night, refused to comment on the document. She also declined to comment on the case in general. Last week, Woodfield's lawyer Alan Lerner denied all allegations against his client and said he would defend the accusations. The SAS document outlines the sequence of events between the woman and Woodfield, and is addressed to the College Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility, which will decide what action, if any, to take on the allegations. The document states that Woodfield often had sex with the student in his office. "The sexual activity was often placed in the context of a teacher/student role play with the professor playing the teacher and assigning sexual activity as 'homework,'" the document further states. The relationship between Woodfield and the woman began while the student was enrolled in one of Woodfield's classes during the fall of 1992, the letter states. According to the letter, Woodfield continually flattered the student's appearance and dress while in class. At the end of the semester, Woodfield "allowed" the student to take an oral exam, the document states. No other students, in what the document describes as "a large class," were granted this privilege. According to the document, the oral examination lasted only 10 minutes, during which time Woodfield "made a number of sexually suggestive comments." The letter also says Woodfield asked the woman to help him prepare a syllabus for a course he was creating, by reading a book and meeting with him in a week to discuss it. "At this next meeting, the professor kissed the student," the letter states. Woodfield called the woman that evening to profess his attraction to her and asked her if she would continue to see him, according to the letter. Later that week, the document states that the two had lunch together where the student expressed doubt over taking a course taught by him during the spring term. Woodfield allegedly convinced the student to take his course and also mentioned at that time that she had received an "A" in his fall course. "Upon her return for the spring semester, she met him at his office in the late afternoon and they had sexual relations," the letter states. The document says that the sexual encounters continued until March, often with a frequency of several times a week. "[Woodfield] also made comments about his desire to have sex with other students," the document states. Becoming increasingly distraught with the situation because she felt "used and manipulated," the student went to the Penn Women's Center and then to the University Ombudsman's office on March 29, 1993, the letter states. According to the document, on March 31, Woodfield met with the ombudsman and his associate to discuss the matter. Woodfield concurred with the student's accounts of the events "with only one minor discrepancy not involving the sexual relations." But, on April 15, when Stevens met with Woodfield and English Department Chairperson John Richetti, the document alleges that Woodfield changed his story. He now only confirmed meeting with the student once for sex, it read. He also said the one meeting took place off-campus during March. Woodfield claimed the student pursued him and "that 'my judgement left me' on the one occasion," the letter states. In response to the complaint, the ombudsman asked Woodfield not to communicate with the woman, the document alleges. But, it says that Woodfield called her the very same evening after receiving the ombudsman's warning. He was asked again not to speak with her, but he approached her in a campus building and on the street to try to talk with her, the letter states. The woman's work for Woodfield's spring class was transferred to another professor as an independent study project, the document states. The letter further asserts that the woman was unable to complete any of the four courses she took that semester and was unable to graduate. Last week, a source close to the woman confirmed the document's depiction of the series of events leading up to the charges of sexual harassment against Woodfield.