Former Wharton grad student still waiting for judicial hearing

Frank Wyant believes the University is trying its hardest to keep him out. Wyant was a student in the Wharton Executive Masters of Business Administration Program in 1989 when he was arrested for receiving child pornography. He took a leave of absence from the University to prepare for his trial. He pled guilty and received no jail sentence, because his lawyer had arranged a plea bargain. When he reapplied for admission to the WEMBA program, he was denied. Wyant claimed in a letter that he has repeatedly asked for a University judiciary hearing in order to resolve his case, but that his request has not been granted. Wyant has asked that the hearing to be open to the University community and to include at least one Wharton graduate student on the judicial board. He had hoped to schedule the hearings during school terms. However, he said in a recent interview that for the past two years, the University has either cancelled these hearings at the last minute or rescheduled them for times in between terms. University Judicial Administrator Stephen Gale declined to comment about these claims, saying he could not discuss active cases. Citing the same rules, Judicial Inquiry Officer Steven Blum also declined to comment. Wyant said he first requested a hearing after the University offered him highly conditional readmission. Arnold Rosoff, the WEMBA program director at the time, sent Wyant a letter in August 1992 outlining the terms under which he would agree to Wyant's readmission. Among the terms stated in Rosoff's letter are that Wyant submit to University psychiatric evaluation and treatment and agree not to publish anything concerning his case until after his graduation. Wyant rejected Rosoff's offer, saying that Rosoff's stipulations were unfair. Rosoff refused to comment on the letter. Wyant then began his efforts to obtain an open judicial hearing on his case. "The Judicial Administrator [Gale] set a date for my hearing, only to cancel that date and to reschedule it," he added. "The Judicial Administrator refused?to respond to my repeated requests for an open hearing." In December, Wyant sent a letter to Gale, again requesting readmission and describing his frustration at getting no response for his "four-year-long quest for a University judicial hearing." According to Wyant, Gale has yet to respond. Wyant said the problems facing his case are "focused in Stephen Gale's office." Wyant alleges that the University is stalling. He said that according to University guidelines, he must complete his graduate courses within five years of his original entrance date. If he does not begin classes this August, Wyant will be ineligible to re-enroll. "One thing I'd like to say is that if students ever get into trouble, they can forget about the judicial system being a stopgap," he said. Wharton Vice Dean Isik Inselbag declined to comment. WEMBA Program Director Howard Kaufold and WEMBA Associate Director Catherine Molony did not return repeated telephone calls to their offices.