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After two of the university's most distinguished professors were banished from campus for sexual harassment allegations, the faculty union is urging long-awaited changes to the university's harassment policy.
The two professors - one of whom has filed a lawsuit against the university and the other of whom died before he could defend the allegations - were victims of a lack of due process, said Marvin Zeman, former Faculty Association president. If the university had reviewed suggested changes to its policy in a timely manner, the situations could have been avoided, Zeman said.
"We believe that if this policy was in place even a year ago, what happened to (the professors) would not have happened," Zeman said.
A report of suggested changes to the policy, commissioned by former Chancellor Walter Wendler, was submitted to the chancellor's office more than two years ago. Requests to implement the policy have been sent to two other chancellors since that time.
According to the university's policy, sexual harassment "may involve the behavior of a person of either sex toward a person of the opposite or the same sex." It can include unwelcome sexual advances, verbal or other requests for sexual favors, or physical conduct in a sexual nature.
The recommendations include more transparency in the process for both the accused and the accuser and more oversight to ensure investigations are conducted properly and quickly.
John Y. Simon
John Y. Simon, a 44-year history professor at SIUC and executive director of the Ulysses S. Grant Association, was removed from his office in January for allegations of sexual harassment. He died July 8 at age 75 without knowing the specifics of the claims against him, Zeman said.
Simon's widow, Harriet Simon, said she is waiting until after her late husband's Sunday memorial at Shryock Auditorium to discuss any action she might take.
In a letter sent to administrators July 25, Zeman urged immediate action to review and apply the changes in the policy. He said the request was urgent because of the "tragic circumstances" of Simon's case.
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The letter states Simon died without knowing the names of his accusers or the full allegations against him.
"At 75 and not in the best of health, this stress aggravated his health condition, in addition to increasing his stress and worry," wrote Zeman, who said he visited Simon numerous times in the hospital before he died.
Zeman said he initially tried to urge action informally, but was constantly ignored.
"They've been giving us the runaround for two years. Finally, after what happened to Cal Meyers and John Simon, we finally said, OK, we're going to put this in writing and pursue it because dealing with them informally does not seem to work," he said.
Cal Meyers
The other professor involved in similar allegations, distinguished professor emeritus Cal Myers, filed a federal lawsuit Aug. 12 against the university's Board of Trustees and Graduate School Dean John Koropchak, citing due process violations and the breach of his $2.5 million contract for the Meyers Institute.
Meyers, 81, said he first received a formal warning of the allegations in a letter from Koropchak dated November 8. The letter states that an investigation found Meyers in violation of the sexual harassment policy.
Meyers said the next correspondence he received from the university was a letter from former Chancellor Fernando Treviño. The letter, dated January 31, notified Meyers of additional complaints of harassment.
It also ordered Meyers to leave campus immediately and not come back unless advised to do so, or else he would be arrested for trespassing.
Carbondale attorney Rebecca Whittington, who is representing Meyers, said she was unable to defend her client with the limited amount of information included in the letter. Because of this, she said she requested specific instances of harassment on Feb. 4.
SIU General Counsel Jerry Blakemore responded in a letter dated April 28. The letter provided a breakdown of eight allegations, but stated the list does not necessarily include all the reported instances.
Among the allegations is that Meyers made a racist comment and requested that secretaries make copies of personal material. The letter also includes allegations that Meyers slapped a male worker in the buttocks, grabbed a woman's arm, kissed a female student worker on the neck and smoked in the Neckers Building numerous times. None of the accusers are named in the letter.
Meyers denied all of the allegations. He said the university is after control of the $2.5 million Meyers Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, which he founded in 2000.
"They want my money. They don't care about me," Meyers said.
Meyers, who taught at the university from 1964 to 1996, donated $3 million to the SIU Foundation in 2000, $2.5 million of which went to establish the institute in his name.
The contract agreement for the donation, signed by Meyers and then-interim Chancellor John Jackson, stipulates that Meyers would be the lifetime director of the center.
In recent years, the center has conducted research and developed patents for prevention of breast and prostate cancer, which Meyers suffered from.
Meyers said he is still conducting research and working on more patents, but he must work from his home without many of his supplies because he is not allowed in the institute. He said he is determined to keep working, but it is difficult.
"John Simon died. I don't want to die like this," Meyers said. "I'm making contributions to help people."
University response
Koropchak said he would not comment on the Meyers case because it is an ongoing legal matter and deferred all questions to Associate General Counsel Deborah Nelson. Several calls and an e-mail to Nelson were not returned during the past week.
University spokesman Rod Sievers returned the calls and said Nelson and other university officials would have no comment.
"We're not going to talk about it in the media. We'll deal with it in the courtroom," Sievers said.
A letter sent in July to SIU President Glenn Poshard from Makanda resident Mary-Ann Wildwood urged the university leader to investigate the matter further, calling the treatment of Meyers "immoral and inhumane."
Poshard said people in the legal office informed him the investigation was appropriate, and he must accept that. He said procedure prohibits any intervention by him that may be political or prejudiced.
"I'm not going to sit here as an administrator and tell investigators what they have to find, because I can't do that. I'm not going to do that," Poshard said. "The investigation should lead wherever it leads to. I can't interject my own personal or political viewpoints into something like that."
Faculty response
Mary Lamb, an English professor and Faculty Association vice president, said many across campus have speculated that the ability to gain control over the institute played a role in the how the university dealt with the allegations. Above all, she said, the university must at least honor portions of the contract for ethical reasons.
"If it is ascertained that in fact sexual harassment took place, I think the university is duty-bound to return a significant amount of the money that he contributed," Lamb said.
She said faculty members she has spoken with have remarked on the similarities between the cases of Meyers and Simon. While she would not make a direct accusation, she said, the situation seems suspicious.
"Some faculty wonder if sexual harassment was chosen as an issue to embarrass Cal and anyone that might want to step forward in his defense," Lamb said.
Next step for the policy
Phyleccia Cole, associate general counsel, said she did not know her office received the recommendations. She said the review is nearly complete and the office has scheduled a meeting for the first week in September with interim Chancellor Sam Goldman and representatives from Poshard's office to discuss changes.
Associate dean of Library Affairs Susan Logue said she would provide the association with a copy of the report soon after the meeting.
Editor's Note: This story has been changed to reflect the following correction: John Y. Simon was locked out of his office in January, not December as was originally reported.
Sean McGahan can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 254 or mcgahan@siu.edu.
To read the PDFs that pertain to this article ... you need something to open the PDFs. To get Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here.
click for the report of the Faculty Association
click for the memorandum of agreement
click for the letter from Koropchack informing Meyers of the allegations
A letter from Blakemore detailing the allegations
click for the letter from Trevino to Meyers.
click for exhibit A
click for a copy of the lawsuit
For the SIUC sexual harassment policy,
click here
