# False sexual harrassment charge?



## Scannerguard (Jan 26, 2010)

I have a friend (no, this isn't me, lol) who is a teacher at a chiropractic school, happily married. He had discovered a female student was plaguarizing a paper - so much so in fact, she had copied the paper entirely word for word. It was blatant plaguarism, not just a case of using Cliff Notes or something.

He was going to report it to the school academic honesty committee but she said, "Well, if you are going to do that, then I'm going to have to file a sexual harrassment charge."

What could you do?

I don't think there are professor's unions to assign him a lawyer so i am not sure if the school would have to pony up or not for the lawyer.

Do you just surrender in this case?

I think I would. . .I think you have to give women their due on this stuff, no?


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## magnoliagal (Mar 30, 2011)

I'm kinda evil. I'd probably put her off to think about it then I'd come back with a VAR to try to get her to say it again by pretending to talk her out of it. The deal that is. Then I'd report her ass for the plagiarism AND for threatening me.


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## Enchantment (May 11, 2011)

So what is this paper for exactly? Even my high school student has to turn papers in that get fed in to some kind of 'plagiarism' software program that looks for hits. They get a big, fat zero if they have too high of a percentage of plagiarism 'hits'. I'd be investigating why this committee isn't doing that and recommending that they start doing so.


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## 2nd_t!me iz_best (Feb 28, 2011)

magnoliagal said:


> I'm kinda evil. I'd probably put her off to think about it then I'd come back with a VAR to try to get her to say it again by pretending to talk her out of it. The deal that is. Then I'd report her ass for the plaguarism AND for threatening me.


there you go...
if she wants to play
play back harder.

i dont think women should catch a free ride on the harassment issue just because they have a vagina.
it may be good, but it aint that good.


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## PBear (Nov 16, 2010)

If I was you... Oops, sorry, I mean if I was him...  I would advise him to talk to the schools HR and/or legal department NOW and lay things out. See what they advise. If she's willing to throw that threat out now, what's to say she's not going to throw a fit if she doesn't do well in his class?

Bummer, though...

C


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## Mom6547 (Jul 13, 2010)

Sexual harassment does not stick without some kind of finding. He should contact HR yesterday.


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## Entropy3000 (May 11, 2011)

Scannerguard said:


> I have a friend (no, this isn't me, lol) who is a teacher at a chiropractic school, happily married. He had discovered a female student was plaguarizing a paper - so much so in fact, she had copied the paper entirely word for word. It was blatant plaguarism, not just a case of using Cliff Notes or something.
> 
> He was going to report it to the school academic honesty committee but she said, "Well, if you are going to do that, then I'm going to have to file a sexual harrassment charge."
> 
> ...


I have taught for the School of Engineering for a major University for some time. I would not succumb to this. It is part of the environment. You cannot cater to it. I would call her on it. I would let my superiors know she said this and give them a heads up. The schools is also a school of Law so no biggie. No doubt HR would be brought on board. This happens more often than folks would imagine.


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## Runs like Dog (Feb 25, 2011)

Showing proof of plagiarizing is self evident, no? All one has to do is show that the work is in fact stolen. Then let the chips fall where they may.


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## Scannerguard (Jan 26, 2010)

LOL. . .no, it's not me (but there before the Grace of God Goeth I, LOL).


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## magnoliagal (Mar 30, 2011)

My husband is a police officer so being threatened is just a part of our daily life. He never rolls and neither should this teacher.


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## unbelievable (Aug 20, 2010)

I've been falsely accused of sexual harassment, racial discrimination, excessive force, theft, and God knows what. I welcome an inquiry. Your teacher friend probably has been around awhile and has a reputation he has earned. If this girl is the only accuser out of the hundreds he has taught and she only lodged this complaint after being caught lying and cheating, then it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure who is wrong in this equation. In the Army, I investigated loads of alleged sexual assaults, rapes, child molestations, etc. Almost never found such a case with only one victim. That's because most of us don't suddenly wake up one morning and decide we're now going to be sexual predators. The first thing I do when investigating these allegations is find out what other potential victims there are and start interviewing them. In your friend's case, that'll be other female students past and present and female co-workers. If he has conducted himself appropriately, they will bolster his case and slaughter the alleged victims' case.


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## Entropy3000 (May 11, 2011)

unbelievable said:


> I've been falsely accused of sexual harassment, racial discrimination, excessive force, theft, and God knows what. I welcome an inquiry. Your teacher friend probably has been around awhile and has a reputation he has earned. If this girl is the only accuser out of the hundreds he has taught and she only lodged this complaint after being caught lying and cheating, then it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure who is wrong in this equation. In the Army, I investigated loads of alleged sexual assaults, rapes, child molestations, etc. Almost never found such a case with only one victim. That's because most of us don't suddenly wake up one morning and decide we're now going to be sexual predators. The first thing I do when investigating these allegations is find out what other potential victims there are and start interviewing them. In your friend's case, that'll be other female students past and present and female co-workers. If he has conducted himself appropriately, they will bolster his case and slaughter the alleged victims' case.


Excellent point. The only teacher who needs to be concerned are the ones who have had several complaints.


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## larry.gray (Feb 21, 2011)

magnoliagal said:


> I'm kinda evil. I'd probably put her off to think about it then I'd come back with a VAR to try to get her to say it again by pretending to talk her out of it. The deal that is. Then I'd report her ass for the plagiarism AND for threatening me.


Ditto, I'd do the same. Blackmail is criminal. She'd be expelled from school and looking for a defense lawyer.


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## unbelievable (Aug 20, 2010)

Getting her on tape would be ideal if he could pull it off. Check your state's laws. Some states make nonconsensual monitoring a criminal offense.


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## Edge (Mar 30, 2011)

No way would I let her get away with this. Get her to say it again and record it or have a phone on speaker phone so someone can hear her say it.


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## magnoliagal (Mar 30, 2011)

unbelievable said:


> Getting her on tape would be ideal if he could pull it off. Check your state's laws. Some states make nonconsensual monitoring a criminal offense.


With my husband the rule is reasonable expectation of privacy. The cops here all have recorders, video and audio that they use. If you are in a police station or in the back of a squad car there is no reasonable expectation to privacy therefore they are free to record whatever they want.


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## Halien (Feb 20, 2011)

Scannerguard said:


> I have a friend (no, this isn't me, lol) who is a teacher at a chiropractic school, happily married. He had discovered a female student was plaguarizing a paper - so much so in fact, she had copied the paper entirely word for word. It was blatant plaguarism, not just a case of using Cliff Notes or something.
> 
> He was going to report it to the school academic honesty committee but she said, "Well, if you are going to do that, then I'm going to have to file a sexual harrassment charge."
> 
> ...


I've never had a threat of harassment, but I have had several employees who were threatened.

With almost any institution, the first place to go is human resources, or a similar group. I'm required to attend sexual harrassment training annually since my company is also a military supplier (govt overcompliance), so I've witnessed the Federal interpretations change through the years. At first, it seemed that the one charged was assumed to be guilty until proven innocent, but now, several landmark cases have really changed the intepretation.

A HR group will do an investigation. Think about how she will actually claim harrassment. Who will she tell? Not very many actually show up at the police department. Most go through the school's reporting system. Some to agencies like EEOC, or the labor board if its work related. Usually, there is a burden of proof for the case to be handled and elevated to the judiciary.

And don't forget another critical factor: the very last thing this school wants is for one of their teachers to be prosecuted for sexual harrassment. In my case, the company lawyer contacted me to let me know that I needed to attend a pre-hearing with my employee, but this was only in the one case where HR determined that there was questionable evidence of a crime. In this case, though, the woman had a history of threatening everytime she didn't get a job that she bid for, but didn't go to HR. I did, though, AND I took notes. When I stood before the labor review officer, I pulled out my notes and only got through the first sentence before he looked at the woman and said, "you are wasting my time," and dismissed the charges.

The teacher should clearly document what happened, and then report it to his school. If he does not proactively handle and report it, he is presumed to be guilty by many people.


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## unbelievable (Aug 20, 2010)

magnoliagal said:


> With my husband the rule is reasonable expectation of privacy. The cops here all have recorders, video and audio that they use. If you are in a police station or in the back of a squad car there is no reasonable expectation to privacy therefore they are free to record whatever they want.


I wear a body mic on patrol, too. The Supreme Court is clear on there being no reasonable expectation of privacy in the back of a police cruiser or in a police station, but that's not what we're considering here. In this case, we have one civilian potentially secretly recording another civilian. When a police officer does something in the line of duty, that's a government action and different rules apply. 

There's no need to guess about this. What state is the OP in?


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## Voiceofreason (Mar 6, 2011)

He may also want to report the incident to the police. What she is doing is felony extortion.


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## michzz (Jun 6, 2008)

Turn the little con artist in!

One point to consider:

Has she used this shakedown on any other professors?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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