Woodfield links burglary to sexual harrassment charge

and ANDREW RAFALAF A summer burglary in Bennett Hall may be linked to the sexual harassment charges against Assistant English Professor Malcolm Woodfield, sources said last week. Woodfield claims that in August someone with a duplicate key to his office on the fourth floor of Bennett Hall entered the office, tampered with files on his computer hard disk and rummaged through his desk. Duplicate keys to faculty offices are held in the English Department Office, Woodfield said. Woodfield said last week that the files printed out from his computer and taken from his desk included correspondence with his former attorney in the sexual harassment charges, Edward Rubenstone. He added that he did not at first notice that the documents had been tampered with, but he later observed that "paper was in my printer that wasn't there before and my floppy disks were out." Woodfield said he reported the break-in to English Department Chairperson John Richetti, Rubenstone and English Professor Paul Korshin, his faculty liaison in the matter. Woodfield and Richetti had a meeting with "two top campus policemen," Woodfield said. While Woodfield claims that University Police found no criminal intent and chose not to investigate, claiming it was "politically motivated," Richetti said the police investigated and were unable to come up with substantial evidence. "At the time of the newspaper theft and all that shit, you could just tell that the police weren't going to [investigate] it," Woodfield said. During the fall semester, the duplicate key was taped to the inside of an envelope and placed inside Richetti's mailbox. According to Woodfield, in the same envelope were copies of the stolen documents. But Richetti said no documents were in the envelope, adding that he does not believe that anything was taken from Woodfield's office. Sources close to the woman alleging sexual harassment said last week that Woodfield fabricated the burglary, adding that they think he tried to blame the theft on graduate students in the English Department. University Police were unable to find a record of the break-in, but the University Almanac reports a theft in Bennett Hall on August 24.