By Erasmus Baxter
A Western professor has sought a court order to prevent the release of a university investigation that found him responsible for sexual harassment, court documents show.
The investigation was sought by the AS Review under Washington’s public records law as part of a request for Equal Opportunity Office investigations completed in early fall quarter.
In a complaint filed Jan. 25, the professor, a faculty member who lives in Seattle and is referred to as “John Doe” in the documents, admits that he had a relationship with a student he supervised several years ago. He claims the relationship did not constitute harassment because it was consensual and he says they remained on positive terms afterward.
However, the investigator found that the student had suffered adverse consequences from having to conceal the relationship and not writing a thesis since they believed they would have to work with the professor on it, the claim says.
The professor is now facing discipline as a result of the investigation, according to the claim.
The claim seeks to block the release of the documents on the grounds that there should not have been a finding of sexual harassment. They also are seeking damages for invasion of privacy if the report is released.
It’s Western position that the documents should be released, Melissa Nelson, the assistant attorney general handling the case for Western, said in an email. They are trying to schedule a hearing as soon as Feb. 8 and will release the records on 5:00 p.m. that day if a temporary restraining order is not obtained by then, she said.
Under Washington’s public records act, information is considered an invasion of privacy only if it would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, and is not of legitimate concern to the public.
Richard Hughes, who is representing the professor, said in an email that he would forward a request for interview along to his client. We will update this story with his response when we receive it.
Updated 2/1/2019 to fix the date that Western plans to release the records if they do not receive a restraining order. It is Feb. 8 not Feb. 18.
Updated 2/11/2019 to clarify that the student was not a graduate student at the time of the relationship.