The Red and Black

Issue date: 2/1/08 Section: News

SOLOSKI

PARKER

BENDER

The William Bender saga may leave some with deja vu: high profile University employee slapped with a sexual harassment violation and still receiving a paycheck.

Just placed in a slightly different capacity.

For Bender, the new role is teaching exclusively his graduate special education classes online.

But for John Soloski, it was a demotion from dean of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication to a gig as a professor in 2006.

A Grady employee said Soloski told her that her dress showed off "her assets," and created a "tense and hostile atmosphere" in the workplace.

Todd McCorkle still is employed by the athletic department, even though he resigned last summer in connection with sexually harassing players while serving as head coach of the women's golf team. Documented complaints from his former players accused McCorkle of repeatedly making inappropriate sexual jokes and flirtatious comments.

You would be hard-pressed to know what his role is now. His office number listed on the University Web site leads to the voice mail of Kelley Hester, now head coach of the women's golf team.

Like Bender, Soloski and McCorkle also were found in violation of the University's Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy.

Then there is Keith Parker, who resigned from his duties as associate provost for institutional diversity in July 2005.

Unlike the others, he was not found in violation of the policy, but an investigation found Parker invited a University graduate student to stay in his hotel room while on University business in Washington, D.C.

He proceeded to massage her feet and told her she looked like the "kind of girl who liked to have fun," according to documents from the Office of Legal Affairs.

His resignation came before he was cleared, and he is now a professor in the sociology department.

Each case ended with resignation and reassignment without a tenure revocation process for Bender, Soloski or Parker.

According to Anne Bothe, department head of communication, you can't fire a tenured faculty member without removing their tenure first.

In a meeting with The Red & Black on Wednesday, Provost Arnett Mace attributed difficulty cracking down on Bender to the tenure process.

The procedure for dismissal of a tenured faculty member is extensive.

According to the Board of Regents policy:

The process begins with a discussion between the faculty member and administrator before an inquiry by a faculty committee. The committee advises the president if charges should be dismissed.

Even if the committee concludes adequate cause for dismissal has not been met, the president holds the ultimate authority.

The next step is a letter to the faculty member warning he or she is about to be fired. Then the accused may request a formal hearing.

This process was avoided in these cases.

In the Wednesday meeting, Beth Bailey, associate director for legal affairs, said more stringent legal constraints had no bearing on the willingness of administrators to investigate.

But in the same meeting, Mace said the negotiations with Bender led to a speedier conclusion.

"Because of the process that we have in place, what has occurred is that (Bender) will not be a part of this institution at the end of the spring semester, which we believe to be the most prudent decision to be made."

Mace said it was even harder to terminate Bender's contract than an administrator's due to the tenure process.

A news release from the administration Thursday said, "Professor Bender was found to be in violation of the NDAH policy, and that finding would likely have triggered a lengthy process leading to serious disciplinary action. Before that action could be taken, he resigned."

McCorkle, like Bender, will leave the University in May ­- a year after his harassment violation.

He did not have tenure.

Bailey said the tenure revocation process has been used throughout the past two decades.

These cases were not as widely publicized as the aforementioned.

Soloski still here. Parker still here. Bender still here.

And in each case, tenure revocation wasn't needed.

Mace pointed to one area that was avoided with Bender.

"We are in a very litigious society today," he said. "As (Bailey) will tell you, there are a lot of law suits against the University of Georgia. Always are."

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