In the back of my mind, I remember an old story about a Princeton
professor accused of date rape by a graduate student. It was probably
between 1986 to 1993 or so, but I can't be certain. It was a big
problem for the university because the professor had tenure and so
they couldn't simply fire him. There was a long legal wrangling and
they ended up buying up his contract. There was plenty of coverage,
but I can't locate the story no matter how hard I try. I seem to
remember cover stories in New York Magazine and regular stories in the
New York Times, but I can't locate any of them. Could I have the
university wrong? Or are my searching skills just bad? Or is my memory
just shot and none of this happened?

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 06 Apr 2006 15:24 PDT

Could you be thinking of this case, involving a tenured professor at Rutgers?

"A tenured professor who was accused of sexually harassing a graduate
student and retaliating against her when she ended their romance
agreed to resign from Rutgers University last week.

Since early 1997, Rutgers had been seeking to fire the anthropology
professor, William K. Powers. His resignation was part of a settlement
that brought the case to a close. The university agreed to pay him
$92,500, and he agreed to leave immediately and to drop the federal
lawsuit that he had filed against Rutgers in 1996, accusing it of
violating his right to due process.

Neither Mr. Powers nor his lawyer could be reached for comment. The
professor has admitted that he had an affair with the student, Adriana
Greci Green, but has denied trying to retaliate against her."

http://chronicle.com/che-data/articles.dir/art-44.dir/issue-43.dir/43a01002.htm

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 06 Apr 2006 16:49 PDT

I've found a few mentions of a book, Nemesis, by Joyce Carol Oates,
which is described as:


"...a reimagining of the true story of a gay male rape committed by a
professor at Princeton, where Oates has worked since 1978..."


However, I haven't found any information yet about the actual true story.


Could this be the incident you recall, though?


pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by st225-ga on 19 Apr 2006 10:15 PDT

I'm certain it's not the Rutgers case. The Oates/Rosamund Smith
pointer is the best one I've seen. I'm guessing that it's a roman a
clef about the real case.

Thanks for getting back to us on this.  I found the Princeton case on
which the Nemesis novel appears to based.  Here are relevant excerpts
from a newspaper article on the case:


May 27, 1989
New York Times

Accused Princeton Professor to Retire Early


A literature professor accused of making sexual advances to a male
graduate student will take early retirement because of a growing
controversy over Princeton University's handling of the matter, his
lawyer said today...

...The professor, Thomas McFarland, had been suspended in September
after the student made the accusations. Faculty members and students
criticized the university's decision to let Mr. McFarland return to
class this fall.

...the growing turmoil and the threatened boycott had prompted Mr.
McFarland, a scholar in Romantic literature, to retire at age 62 after
11 years at Princeton. The normal retirement age is 65...

...Four members of the English Department faculty, including the
chairman, Emory Elliott, announced their resignations after the
controversy, and two said the incident influenced their decision to
leave.

...a lawyer for the unidentified student, said his client had told the
police the assault was ''of a sexual nature.''

===============


Hope that fully answers your question, but if there's anything else
you need, just let me know by posting a Request for Clarification.


paf


search strategy -- Searched Google and newspaper databases for:


[ princeton professor rape OR harrassment OR assault ]

Nice researching. I'm a bit troubled by the way you're pushing the
bounds of "fair use", but I'm a stickler for that. Most others
wouldn't care.