Legal Question in Sexual Harassment in Kansas
Profane verbal abuse from a faculty member
In response to an e-mail from a male fellow graduate
student regarding letters to the editor discussing 9/11, I
sent a reply which included a joke that I had received
that we could ferret out terrorists if woman walked
around the neighborhood naked, which would then
reveal the fundamentalist terrorists through their
outraged response. Inadvertently, I replied to all the
original recipients, including a female faculty member.
She sent me the following e-mail:
''hahaha - are you sitting in the rain, you fucking
misogynist bastard?
have you no imagination?
we are all naked under our clothes - and ponchos.
and if you use your imagination, we are all nude.''
I feel that because of her position of power over
me--factulty over student--this creates a hostile
environment for pursuing my graduate studies. I have
considered leaving graduate school. How can I pursue
my studies if she can direct profane, highly
personalized insults to me at will?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Profane verbal abuse from a faculty member
Part of the problem, in my opinion, is your initial email could also be considered harassing. Before going to far, I would suggest you contact your department chairman about the incident. I agree, the faculty member's response is not appropriate. However, it also seems to be this could be resolved without a lot of legal hassle if everyone just apologized. If that doesn't happen, then you might want to consider taking the matter further with the university. Of course, you always have the option of contacting an attorney and filing a charge of sexual harassment, but they may not yet be your best option. Good luck and let me know if you have any futher questions.
Todd Epp
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