Respect for Others
We will treat everyone we contact with respect and dignity-
This means that each member of the campus community
- Strives to avoid relationships inappropriate with position
Perspective: A Real World Illustration
A September 2005 Florida Times- Union (Jacksonville) newspaper article reported on a professor at a university located in Florida who was reprimanded over his "lack of judgment" during a trip to Washington with a female graduate student.
There was "insufficient evidence" to say the professor violated university anti-harassment and discrimination policies, the university said.
The tenured professor of sociology was removed from his position as associate provost in July 2005 after the student complained about the incident. The demotion also meant a $26,000 annual reduction for the professor, who was hired in 2003 for the administrative post.
The woman told university investigators the professor massaged her foot and told her she looked like a "girl who liked to have fun."
According to records the university released this week there was only one suite booked for the two of them on the spring trip to Washington.
"I am very concerned about the lack of judgment you exhibited in allowing a graduate student to travel with you on university business, without completing the appropriate documentation and allowing the student to share your suite," the university provost wrote to the professor in a formal letter of reprimand.
"In that you have been removed from your administrative duties, I do not feel further disciplinary action is necessary," she wrote.
The provost also warned the professor he could be fired for future violations. The professor is one of two university administrators reprimanded this year after allegations of sexual misconduct.
The dean of the university's college of journalism and mass communication resigned after a former employee of the journalism school formally complained that he made suggestive comments to her.
In that case, university officials said his comments could have been interpreted as sexual advances, though the dean might not have meant them that way.
Last Revised 5/23/2006