2008 Woodie Awards
Our Take
Majority opinions of The Red & Black's editorial board
Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: Opinions
No freaky explanation
Why are Univ. officials mute about a prof. harassing students for 20 years?How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?
Just ask University professor William Bender. Records show two decades of his making inappropriate jokes and advances toward students.
How many complaints does it take for the University to take action against a professor who crosses the line of decency?
In the words of Bender, there is no "freaky" explanation.
Within a year of Bender's 1988 hiring, the University received its first complaint from a female University student about sexual harassment. Despite stacks of aged documents that include lewd details of students' accounts with Bender, it was not until Sept. 28, 2007, that the University Legal Affairs Office found him guilty of violating the Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy. The action came one day after Bender slipped away by tendering his resignation.
His students were silenced in fear.
"If he finds out I said anything, he could ruin my education plans," one student wrote in August as she withdrew her complaint of Bender's comments and actions.
But we are unsure why University administrators are silenced.
The University has jeopardized upholding its motto "to teach, to serve and to inquire into the nature of things" by allowing a professor to interfere with the teaching of his female students, failing to adequately serve those students and neglecting to take timely recourse against this professor.
We, The Red & Black editorial board, are not looking to point fingers or place blame. We simply would like enlightenment on the University's integrity. Officials have known of The Red & Black's investigation of Bender for some time. It is time to come out of hiding.
Faculty are the remedy for the overall health of the University. Yet our administrators have allowed a crippling from within.
How are students to be taught effectively when they feel uncomfortable in a classroom? What is the scale of severity in faculty's actions that would warrant a reprimand, suspension or expulsion? When do students' voices and complaints matter? Why does the University's commitment to excellence waiver?
The story of Bender's harassment is bound to outshine the fine academic accomplishments of students and faculty alike.
Instead of proactively defending the University's academic integrity and addressing students' concerns, the Office of Public Affairs and top level administrators with fingerprints on Bender's files have refused to offer an explanation. The hush in the President's office is the most appalling of all.
We, the campus reporters who have promised to bring you University news daily, aren't getting answers to these questions. Perhaps only floods of students and parents calling will solicit a response.
• University President Michael F. Adams
(706)542-1214, presuga@uga.edu
• Vice President for Instruction
Jere W. Morehead
(706)583-0690, morehead@uga.edu
• Education Associate Dean Cheri Hoy
(706)542-3818, cherihoy@uga.edu
• Department Head Anne Bothe
(706)542-0436, abothe@uga.edu
• Professor William Bender
(706)542-4579, wnbender@uga.edu
- Juanita Cousins for the editorial board
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Don
posted 1/30/08 @ 4:53 PM EST
UGA will fire non tenured employees and staff making low wages becuase they know they dont have the resources to fight back. But when it comes to a six figure molesting and drunken professor they try for 20 years to sweep it all under the rug becuase god forbid they have to actually fire a professor. (Continued…)
Winfield J. Abbe
posted 1/30/08 @ 7:50 PM EST
Great job to all at the Red and Black who worked so hard on this story. Since the Athens Banner Herald and the AJC may not mention it, here I posted it: http://www. (Continued…)
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